'While the Congressmen were fighting, the LDF was quietly doing its job, perhaps bringing in results in the lives of the people.' 'Pinarayi Vijayan and several ministers in his cabinet believed that the government should do real business, which is not to fight with the UDF but govern.'
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
'Curiously, Pinarayi's approach, stressing the imperatives of development, is robustly backed by Nitin Gadkari.'
'I stand next only to Gadkari, one of the few outstanding ministers in the Modi government, in applauding Pinarayi's political courage and vision,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Vijayan had extensively travelled across the state as part of the electioneering for the assembly polls which was held on April 6.
The SilverLine project, which is expected to considerably reduce travel time from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram, cannot be implemented without approval from the Centre which appears to be giving it a second thought in view of the United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party's opposition to it, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
'Maybe this has created some minor issues which can happen in any party.'
In an unprecedented move, amidst the ongoing row between the Kerala governor and the Left Democratic Front government, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday shared with the media video clippings of him being allegedly heckled at a Kannur University event in 2019.
The chief minister's office said the special team will be headed by IG Sparjan Kumar and will include four senior women IPS officers of the state.
A 'man-eater' tiger that killed a woman two days ago was found dead in Kerala's high-range district of Wayanad on Monday and an autopsy on the dead cat revealed the presence of the victim's hair, dress, and a pair of earrings in its stomach, forest officials said.
The Kerala government announced on Wednesday that the Argentina national football team, led by legendary player Lionel Messi, will visit the state next year for an international friendly match, which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed as a tribute to state people's passion for soccer.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
The warmth and respect for India were evident wherever I went and noticed how most Latin Americans have Indian gurus either directly or online and yoga was very much in vogue, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
This is the second time Vijayan is contesting from Dharmadam constituency.
CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to an unprecedented consecutive victory in the April 6 assembly polls, on Thursday took oath as chief minister of Kerala for the second time along with 20 ministers.
The over 130-day-long protest by fisherfolk against the under-construction Vizhinjam sea port was on Tuesday called off for now.
Communist Party of India-Marxist's acting state secretary and Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener A Vijayaraghavan on Monday said that the Kerala government will have a 21-member cabinet.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain died at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said on Monday.
The ceremony, held at the famous St Peter's Basilica and attended by clergy and dignitaries from around the world, witnessed the induction of 21 new cardinals from various countries.
The great literary figure of Malayalam and Jnanpith Award winner M T Vasudevan Nair, who had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital here following heart failure, has died, hospital sources said on Wednesday.
Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Marxist leader Pinarayi Vijayan intensified his attack on the Congress, alleging that its general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is contesting the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election with the backing of Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said, during a press meet in Kannur, that during the LS polls, alliances were being formed in various states as part of the platform and its result was that the Bharatiya Janata Party was being largely isolated.
Breaking his silence over the matter, Vijayan on Tuesday sounded tough and said a high-level probe by a top-ranking officer would be held into the charges raised by the MLA.
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.
Vijayan, in his detailed speech, said his government wanted to resolve the issue amicably within the framework of law and sought the support of everyone to participate in the process to settle the 140-day-long agitation.
The Election Commission has said it will allow suspected fake voters to cast their ballots in the Palakkad assembly by-poll, but will take action against them later. The CPI(M), Congress, and BJP have accused each other of enrolling fake voters. The by-poll is scheduled for November 20.
A tweet in Malayalam by Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, soon after his meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Emirates, has gone viral on social media as several expatriate Malayalis shared it on their virtual platforms.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged various banks to write off the loans availed by landslide victims and survivors in Kerala's Wayanad.
The Kerala High Court has ordered a further probe into an allegation that state Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian insulted the Constitution in a speech in July 2022. The court found that Cherian's words, including 'ideal Constitution to loot the people', and the use of certain Malayalam terms, could be interpreted as disrespectful to the Constitution. The court also criticized the initial investigation, finding it insufficient and biased, and directed the State Crime Branch to conduct the further probe.
Vijayan said the news that the SDMA had directed scientific institutions and scientists not to visit the disaster-affected Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad and not to express their opinions was misleading.
'During Amit Shah's recent visit to Kerala, the strategy of concentrating the attacks on the CM on false charges was clear enough.'
Celebs and commoners cast their votes in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on Friday, April 26, 2024
The Kerala state governor R S Gavai has allowed the prosecution proceedings against the Communist Party of India-Marxist Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who was the power minister in the E K Nayanar cabinet during 1996.
State health minister Veena George announced that a 14-year-old boy undergoing treatment for the disease has recovered.
Earlier in the day, rich tributes were paid to Yechury at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) headquarters at the AKG Bhavan here, where his mortal remains were brought from his residence in the morning.
While his critics described him as a leader 'with no smile on his face, and the most feared politician in Kerala', his party rivals have often accused him of deviating from the party line.
While Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala mockingly called the CM as "the most knowledgeable" person in the state who has the habit of terming priests "wretched creatures" and "ignorant", BJP leader V Muraleedharan said that Vijayan's remarks indicate that he continues to be intolerant towards those who disagree with him.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have united in their demands, calling for the immediate resignation and arrest of P P Divya, a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and district panchayat president, who leveled graft accusations against ADM Naveen Babu at his send-off function organised by colleagues at the Kannur district collectorate.
Modi also visited one of the relief camps, which is home to many of those displaced in the massive landslides, and interacted with some of the survivors, including two children who lost their loved ones in the disaster that has claimed over 200 lives.
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