Trinamool Congress candidate and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce And Industry secretary general Amit Mitra, pitted against Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate and West Bengal Finance minister Ashim Dasgupta, is confident that his party is heading for a victory at the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Political observers have said that the TMC, now desperate to shed the 'anti-Hindu' tag and embrace 'soft Hindutva', is carefully planning its moves, with help from poll strategist Prashant Kishor and team, as is evident from its decisions to organise Brahmin Sammelan, provide sops to Sanatan Brahmins, and financial aid to Durga puja committees.
Branding Trinamool Congress rebels as 'traitors' like Mir Jafar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party for fielding the turncoats in the polls leaving saffron party old-timers shed tears.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the police to conduct a "robust" probe Following the incident at the Asianet News office.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest in all the 140 assembly seats in Kerala in the forthcoming elections, scheduled to be held on April 13. Speaking to mediapersons on Saturday, Gafoor Puthuppadi, general secretary, BSP Kerala unit, alleged that both the ruling Communist part of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front were anti-development, and had betrayed people's expectations.
With an aim of ending insurgency in Nagaland, the government on Monday signed an accord with key outfit Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland- Isaac-Muivah which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a "historic" step to usher in peace in the state.
In an exclusive column to Rediff.com, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat explains what is wrong with the Union Budget 2011-12 that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented in Parliament on Monday.
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
As many as 48 ministers of National Democratic Allaince government were in the fray in the general elections.
'I think there must be some sort of a nexus between the rioters and a section of police officials which resulted in gruesome killings and arson'
Shell-shocked by its dismal performance in the state assembly elections, the Communist Party of India-Marxist will soon hold a Politburo meeting to consider the reasons behind its massive debacle.
First the 2009 general elections and now the assembly elections -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist seems to be rolling downhill in the political spectrum. This is reflected from the drubbing the party received in West Bengal, its bastion of over three decades, as also Kerala, another stronghold.
The FIR lodged at Chandpa police station in Hathras district against 'unknown persons' mentioned alleged attempts to foment cast conflict, promoting enmity between groups and tarnish the image of the government and invoked section 124A of the Indian Penal Code -- the serious charge of sedition.
A day after calling Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi an "Amul baby", Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Monday described Defence Minister A K Antony as Kumbakarna, saying he was caught napping when terrorists attacked Mumbai.
Gen Rawat said, while addressing a gathering at a health summit, leaders emerge from crowds but are not those who lead people in 'inappropriate directions'.
Noting that the WikiLeaks cables were a 'sad and revealing' commentary of where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress have landed the country in, the CPI-M has said Americans were willing to do everything to win the trust vote during the UPA government's regime so that the nuclear deal could go through.CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said the cables show that the Americans are keen observers of the high level of corruption that exists in India's politics.
'Whatever Modi had promised us on OROP has not been delivered. He lied to us'
The alliance also emerged victorious on 30 out of 31 seats for councillors. The ABVP won only one councillor seat from Department of Sanskrit.
Participating in the resumed discussion on the General Budget in the Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat said the government is linking food inflation to higher purchasing power among the poor resulting from employment programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has accused the Congress of reversing its own stand of bringing the Prime Minister under Lokpal purview, saying a parliamentary panel headed by senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee had made such a recommendation in 2001.
The TMC likened its MLAs who have joined the BJP to "rats abandoning a ship sensing danger".
The decision was taken keeping in mind the party norm that no CPI-M leader can represent the party in the Upper House for more than two terms.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday demanded that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance II government at the Centre take immediate steps to end the nexus between the Trinamool Congress and Maoists to ensure peaceful elections in West Bengal.
A day after Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh commented on the issue of 'Sangh terror', Communist Party of India - Marixist leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday cited ideologies propounded by freedom fighters V Savarkar and B S Moonje to insist that there was nothing new in the 'violent strain' of Hindutva.
'This has always been a trend by the ruling party, that they give assurances but never fulfill it.' 'The BJP is known for it as it is their character.' 'They agree when the farmers' movement is on, but turn their backs when the farmers leave.' 'We have to keep a constant pressure on the government for our demands.'
Given Modi's penchant for springing a surprise, the BJP nominee for next President could be anyone. The only thing certain is that it will be an RSS person, reports R Rajagopalan.
Prakash Karat, the head (general secretary) of the country's premier Left party, the Communist Party of India -Marxist, tells Saubhadra Chatterji it won't be doomsday if they lose power in West Bengal.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandh on Thursday asked the people of West Bengal to end the 34-year-old 'misrule' of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and elect a government of the aam admi that would bring development and prosperity to the state.
In a rare gesture, not only the legislators of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-headed Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front, but the lone Bharatiya Janata Party member in the 140-member state assembly, O Rajagopal, also supported the resolution against the Centre, saying 'it is the democratic spirit'.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
The Major Ports Authority Bill, 2020 was passed through ballot votes in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with 84 votes in its favour and 44 against it. The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on September 23 last year.
Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad during his retirement speech in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday summed up his more than four-decade-old political career in few Urdu couplets and a brief speech.
The group, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and state secretary Biman Bose, feels the "timing of the withdrawal" in July 2008 was "wrong". The group will seek a review of this decision in the forthcoming extended Central Committee meeting of the party in Vijayawada in August and also question other decisions of the party that are alleged to have led to the debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The CPM argued that though the Kolkatta high court order asking the Central Bureau of Investigation was judicially not correct, it will not contest the order.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan and national secretary D Raja will go to Kolkata and represent their party at the cremation.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, once the poster boy of development for the Communist Party of India-Marxist, has come under fire in the party's latest 'rectification' campaign.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who had launched a scathing attack on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on Monday sent an apology letter to him.
Alleging there was a "conspiracy by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to kill Mamata Banerjee after her Lalgarh rally, Trinamool Congress on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking their intervention in the matter.
Karat admits that creation of the Third Front was a wrong move.
In an attempt to win back its Muslim votes in Left-stronghold Kerala and West Bengal ahead of next year's assembly elections, the Communist Party of India-Marxist hosted a Muslim convention in New Delhi on Saturday.
