Efforts to give a final shape to a national alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continued on Sunday with Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat meeting Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in Delhi. Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's residence in Delhi and held discussions with her for around three hours.
The opposition leaders also accused the government of violating Constitutional norms by not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the event.
The Z+ security cover of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been extended to Khan and Raj Bhavan, his office said in a post on 'X'.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday afternoon soon after a meeting to decide on the modalities of withdrawal of support, Community Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat said with the prime minister announcing his decision to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency over the nuclear deal, no useful purpose will be served by continuing to support the government. The Left will be releasing documents to show that the government has lied to people.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
The United Progressive Alliance government is inching towards a premature demise. It is a matter of time before the Left parties severe its ties with the government or the government gears up for a confrontation with its Left supporters by going ahead with the India-US civilian nuclear agreement. Congress media manager M Veerappa Moily gave a hint of the latter possibility in interactions with news television channels on Wednesday night.
Unhappy over the imposition of Central rule in Meghalaya, senior Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma on Friday held discussions on the issue with opposition leader in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat in New Delhi.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat said though All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalitha could not join the meeting of leaders belonging to the Third Front but she was very much in touch with them."In fact she approved of the six point charter that formed the basis of Sunday's discussion," Karat said while addressing a press conference at the release of the first part of party's election manifesto in New Delhi.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Gandhi alleged that scores were being settled in the country with anyone who raised his voice against the ruling dispensation.
The Congress in Kerala on Friday approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) against the decision of Doordarshan to telecast the controversial movie The Kerala Story, saying it was a 'tacit effort' to divide society on religious grounds to further the electoral prospects of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Separately, the poll panel also issued a notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, asking him to respond to the complaints filed by the BJP against him and the main opposition party's senior leader Rahul Gandhi regarding their remarks.
Veteran Communist leader and former Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan turned 98 on Wednesday.
The fourth meeting of the United Progressive Alliance and Left Front's joint committee to resolve concerns about the Indo-US nuclear deal ended on a lukewarm note on Tuesday. The committee is scheduled to meet again on October 22. "The fourth meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the India-United States civil nuclear cooperation was held today. All members of the committee took part in the meeting, which was held in a cordial atmosphere," Pranab Mukherjee said.
Stung by the Left parties' drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala and West Bengal, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday said his party was critically analysing the reasons for it.
Pledging to fight American imperialism, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat and Communist Part of India national secretary D Raja flagged off a protest jatha from Chennai to Vishakapattanam.
Left parties on Sunday decided to suspend participation in the United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination committee\nmeetings to protest against the government's decision to go ahead with disinvestment .
Chacko, who quit the Congress over his differences with the party leaders in Kerala, said NCP is a partner of the CPIM-led Left Democratic Front in the southern state and he would work for the victory of the Left candidates in the April 6 Assembly polls.
A day after failing to topple the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government during the trust vote, leaders of the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the United National Progressive Alliance met in New Delhi to chalk out their future course of action.The meeting, held at the residence of BSP supremo Mayawati, was attended by Communist Party of India Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja.
These are interesting times in New Delhi.
Rao's history includes arrests in 2000 by Sahadha police of Nandurbar district and subsequent releases, as well as an underground stint in 2002, leading to his arrest by Malkanoor PS police of Karnataka in 2005.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday night said the government was confident of addressing the Left concerns on issues of national interest, including the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Some of the points regarding the agreement were discussed during the meeting, Baru said, adding Karat stated that he would put it to the party's Politburo which will meet over the weekend.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday said his party has not taken any decision yet to ask Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to quit office. "No, that is not correct. There is no such decision as yet," Karat told PTI over phone when asked whether the party has asked Chatterjee to step down and that he would quit on Monday.
The Left parties on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the government for approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency for the safeguards agreement in the nuclear deal before a trust vote in Parliament, terming the move as a "shocking betrayal of a moral commitment" made to the country.
The Left Front leaders, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, have reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit their letter withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government to the President. Following the withdrawal of support by the Left parties the strength of the ruling coalition has been reduced to 230.
In a quick response to points raised by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat over the Safeguards Agreement with IAEA in a letter to him, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote back saying that anybody wanting access to the text of the agreement would have had to join the government for it.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren was on Sunday sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi. Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren, in the presence of senior political leaders and chief ministers from across states.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continues to be unwell, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has postponed his visit to Australia by a day and Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat has warned that the Left will withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government by Wednesday if the UPA continues to pursue the India-US nuclear deal.
The United Progressive Alliance government has failed to address the agrarian crisis and the price rise of essential commodities and there is a need for a third alternative, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat said on Saturday. Speaking at the party's 19th Congress in Coimbatore, Karat said this third alternative cannot be merely an electoral alliance.
CP!-M general secretary Prakash Karat has written to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government's key interlocutor with the allies on the deal, asking for immediate convening of a meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal by mid-March.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary A B Bardhan stirred up a a storm by admitting that the Left had not done enough to tackle the Naxal menace.
As part of the efforts to bring several opposition parties together on a common platform to defeat the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Pawar met Kharge on Thursday evening.
Under the stewardship of the then TMC national general secretary Mukul Roy and North 24 Parganas TMC district president Jyotipriyo Mullick, he joined the party and quickly ascended in power, becoming a close associate of Mullick.
The UPA has decided not to sell its shares in BHEL.
Ahead of the crucial Left-United Progressive Alliance committee meeting in Delhi on Friday on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the outside supporters of the Centre, after allowing the government to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Thursday said they did not want the agreement to be operationalised at any cost.
A meeting of Opposition parties, organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, had a fifteen minute meeting with Karat at the CPI-M headquarters on Thursday morning.
'One Sandeshkhali won't turn around women's perception of Mamata Banerjee in this state'
