The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday ratified the new liquor policy of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government, which envisaged to shut down bars attached to hotels below the five-star category as part of its plans to reduce availability of liquor.
Opposition Congress termed the government's decision as 'unilateral' and said it was against the interest of a majority of Ayyappa devotees in and outside the state.
Venu Muruvelil reports on the Outrage over thriving child marriages in Kerala as the state government looks the other way.
Seeking to downplay Communist Party of India's threat to pull out of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala over seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday said the ally could not take such a stand so long it is part of a "national political line."
Congress candidate R Selvaraj defeated the CPI-M's F Lawrence by a comfortable margin of 6,334 votes in the June 4 bypoll whose outcome has come as a morale-booster to the one-year old Oommen Chandy ministry. Selvaraj had resigned as CPI-M member of the assembly in March this year citing serious differences with the party leadership, causing the byelection, before joining Congress
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged party leaders in Kerala to shed their differences and fight the coming assembly polls unitedly
Though the party defended him saying "the case and his arrest is politically motivated."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the restoration of statehood and democratic process is a very important step in Jammu and Kashmir as he avoided a question on whether his party would be part of an Opposition alliance in the Union Territory.
In the printed copy of his address, prepared by the state government and distributed to legislators and media, there was a reference to the alleged tendency of the central government to 'roughshod' the traditions of cooperative federalism by bypassing the state government.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who was speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode on Friday, said while he concedes the BJP's dominance, it is also a fact that they have lost many states and them losing the central government is not impossible.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who has been under attack from the Communist Party of India - Marxist over the solar panel scam, on Friday met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political developments in the state.
Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday signed as Kerala governor becoming the eighth governor appointed by the United Progressive Alliance regime to quit since the National Democratic Alliance government came to power in May this year.
Former Kerala Pradesh Congress committee chief and son of late chief minister K Karunakaran, K Muraleedharan, who has just been given a party membership after a long gap of six years when he was expelled from the party, is now the United Democratic Front candidate from Vattiyoorkavu constituency in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
In a three-page complaint submitted to the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Kochi, second accused Saritha Nair put the blame for the fraudulent dealings on the first accused Biju Radhakrishnan and actress Shalu Menon while stating that associating her name with politicians and ministers was incorrect.
As the bars opened their doors at 11 am on Sunday, heavy rush was seen in various outlets
'Nowhere in the country, except perhaps Jammu and Kashmir, do extremist groups enjoy political patronage as they do in Kerala. Terrorists are exported from Kerala to Afghanistan, Syria.'
The existing rule allows entry to a Hindu by 'birth or religion,' he said, adding that it will be amended by adding the word 'faith.'
Sporadic violence marked the 'hartal' called by Hindu right groups in Kerala over Wednesday's police action against those opposing entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was hurt mildly on his forehead in stone throwing by Left Democratic Front workers protesting against the solar panel scam in Kannur on Sunday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the Centre's denial of security clearance to Malayalam news channel MediaOne, and pulled up the ministry of home affairs for raising national security claims in "thin air" without facts.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat meeting held at the party headquarters AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has finalized the name of party candidates fighting the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Kerala Devaswom Minister Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government would not support those who make announcements about entering the hill shrine for the sake of publicity.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
During a session titled 'Sustaining Democracy; Nurturing Democracy', he claimed that tightening the already stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a way that kept people like Siddique Kappan in jail for two years without bail is one of the many ways the current dispensation has 'managed to depart from the democratic spirit of the Constitution'.
Kerala's Left Democratic Front government on Friday said it is prepared to make timely changes in temple rules since "its policy is to allow all those who believe in Hindu gods to worship in temples."
Communist Party of India-Marxist Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan will be the next Chief Minister of Kerala.
'Does anyone understand India?' 'Does anyone have a larger perspective for India as a whole?' 'Today we have rulers who do not understand the ruled.'
The Communist Party of India - Marxist, the lead partner in the Left Democratic Front in Kerala has re-nominated 54 sitting members, including Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and eight ministers. But it has also included 30 new names as candidates for the April 13 elections to the state assembly. The 91-member list also includes 10 women and seven independents. The party nominated T K Gangadharan as the candidate for Mahe segment in Puducherry.
The fight for chief ministership in the next United Democratic Front government has begun in the Congress party ,albeit in a subtle and subdued way. The recent report of the Intelligence Bureau that the Congress-led UDF would win around eighty five seats and head the ruling coalation has set the ball rolling in the Congress party for the post of chief minister.
'Our views are different on fundamental matters right from the question of citizenship, all the way up to what the character of the Government should be, how a democracy should function and whether investigation agencies should be allowed to function independently.'
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's meeting with Bengaluru blasts accused Abdul Nasser Madani has drawn the ire of investigators and the prosecution team in Karnataka.
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
The trafficking of 589 children to shelter homes in Kerala has exposed a deep-rooted racket. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'I was wondering whether I would ever come out alive.'
The 'Taliban-like' attack on a college teacher by radicals who chopped off his hand sent shock waves across Kerala during the year which also saw the drubbing of the ruling Left Democratic Front in the local body polls.
Refusing to produce the accused Ameerul Islam before media, Sandhya said police wanted to build a strong case against him.
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pointed out that since the court had not stayed its September 28 verdict, there was no other option but to allow women in the age group of 10-50 years during the upcoming pilgrim season.
Rampant corruption by Congress ministers must be counted as the single biggest factor to prompt the electorate to hand over a thumping mandate to the Communist parties, says M K Bhadrakumar.
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