The CPI(M) today observed 'Black day' in Kerala in protest against Governor R S Gavai's decision to accord sanction to the CBI to prosecute former Minister and party's state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin graft case.
Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group plans to invest over Rs 4,000 crore in future technologies by setting up a Knowledge Park and a branch of the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) at Kozhikode in Kerala.
The Left Democratic Front-led Kerala government on Wednesday accepted the Advocate General's advice against granting permission to prosecute former minister and CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin corruption case.
Around 22,400 employees have retired from service in Kerala in one go after the LDF government's decision to make March 31 the common retirement date, throwing up the challenges of fresh postings and payment of retirement benefits.
'Mamata wanted the Congress in alliance with the BJP in Bengal against the Left Front government.' 'Pranab Mukherjee opposed it, stating it would amount to compromising on secularism.' 'In 2021, Mamata defeats the BJP and becomes a champion of secularism.'
The arrest of two Dalit sisters, daughters of a local Congress leader, for allegedly attacking a Communist Party of India-Marxist activist in Kerala's Thalassery has kicked up a row with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party attacking the Left Democratic Front government over the issue, even as a local court granted them bail on Saturday.
'Unlike in other states, minorities form a significant number in Kerala. They have money and political power. In such a society, the emergence of a new communal power is not a healthy thing.'
Protesting against the police action, BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday.
'If the chief minister says there are areas in her home state where she cannot enter, where has she driven the state to!'
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
Congress leader A K Antony on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial Kerala-Somalia comparison will impact the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been pulling out all the stops in its bid to open its account in Kerala assembly.
He also opposed the government's move to "hand over the control of aided schools to politicians" from the existing managements and the encroachments upon the management's right to appoint staff members and admit students.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Politburo members Sitaram Yechury, S Ramachandran Pillai and R Umanath are expected to attend the meeting on Saturday.
The conduct of puniyaham (purification) after the visit of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi's son Ravikrishna on the ground that his mother hailed from a Christian family has triggered a statewide debate on entry of non-Hindus into the temple.
But the 'tantri family' will accept it, Sabarimala head priest Kandararu Rajeevarau said.
A noted South Indian film actress was harassed for two hours allegedly by a gang of five men, who forced their way into her car before fleeing at a busy area in Kochi.
At a time when the CPI(M)-led LDF government has vowed to take effective steps to regulate corporate retailers, Iyer, a member of the E M S Namboodiripad led first Communist government in the state, has come out in support of Reliance.
Defending the decision to ban Coca Cola and Pepsi, Kerala Law Minister M Vijayakumar on Tuesday said it reflected the LDF government's social commitment and there was no justification to dub it as a move that would discourage investors.
While Health minister K K Shylaja would lead the chain at Kasargod, senior CPM leader Brinda Karat would be the last person at the end of the chain in Thiruvananthapuram.
The probe will cover deaths that have occured in the three months of the LDF being in power.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the land of tourism like Kerala has turned into "nursery of terrorism", as he accused the Congress-led government of ignoring the state's development agenda.
However, Head priest Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru told reporters at the temple that he had only consulted senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu on the matter.
Both LDF and UDF are finding it hard to set their houses in order.
The Congress high command on Thursday approved the list of its candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Kerala retaining all but two sitting MPs, including Union Ministers Shashi Tharoor and K V Thomas, giving a head start to the party in the campaign against rival Left Democratic Front.
"Our decision to form an alliance with the Congress was to stop the Modi-Shah duo," Sisodia said.
Gandhi, however, acknowledged that his opinion is different from that of his party on the "emotional issue" after the Supreme Court last month lifted the ban on entry of women of menstrual age to the hilltop shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala.
Kerala Finance Minister K Sankaranarayanan has spared the common man of any new taxes but announced development measures to the tune of Rs 453.21 crore to be met through enhanced revenue collection and prudent fiscal management.
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.
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
Holding placards bearing pictures of Lord Ayyappa and chanting his hymns, the protesters marched through the busy roads of Kochi, the state's commercial hub, after launching the stir from the famed Shiva temple there.
'Why do they talk about Narendra Modi insulting Oommen Chandy when he himself informed the PMO that he would not be available? Why did he write to Delhi that he was preoccupied on the 15th? After that, he should not make such noise about the function.'
The police's Crime Branch wing registered a criminal case against Thomas for penning his bare-all autobiography Sravukalkkoppam Neenthumbol (Swimming With Sharks) without seeking prior permission from the higher-ups.
'Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.' 'The Congress is losing touch with the common man.'
Here's what leaders from different political parties had to say as results were being announced from Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
In a major relief to Communist Party of India - Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, a Central Bureau of Investigation Court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday dropped him and five others from the list of accused in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case dating to mid-1990s when he was the power minister.
'The party will keep to the script that its core supporter understands: temples, statues, Muslims and cows.'
The BJP chief condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
'The feeling is that Rajinikanth is pro-Modi than anti-Modi.'