The decision of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee not to contest the West Bengal assembly polls reflects her "weakness", Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday.
The Left parties on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for "virtually justifying" that a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the 2G spectrum scam was not required but was accepted by the government only to pacify the opposition.
Communist Party of India - Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday blamed the Congress-ed government and its allies for the chaos in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday night, which led to the adjournment of the House sine die without the passage of the Lokpal Bill. He lashed out at the Congress and its ally Trinamool congress for "engineering" a situation which made it impossible to transact any business.
Rahul Gandhi being assigned a major role in connection with next Lok Sabha election has made the Opposition talk of Congress advancing the polls to cut losses, a contention vehemently denied by the party and the government.
According to sources, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday spoke to Opposition leaders about this decision. Details awaited.
Other members of the group are former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist chief Sitaram Yechury.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and A B Bardhan on Thursday shared dais with Bharatiya Janata Party's Nitin Gadkari and Murli Manohar Joshi at a demonstration against FDI in retail and hike in diesel prices.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday said it would decide its strategy on the coal block allocation issue on the basis of a statement Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may make in Parliament on the matter.
A full house of the Rajya Sabha listened with rapt attention as Justice Soumitra Sen spoke for over one and a half hours tearing into the impeachment motion moved by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury and backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and in the process, attacking the higher judiciary, particularly the unfair practices adopted by sections of the highest judiciary.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist on Saturday rubbished suggestions by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee that a political conspiracy was behind the Gyaneshwari Express disaster in West Midnapore, alleging that she was trying to cover up lapses and failures of her ministry in the incident. Senior CPI-M Politburo member Sitaram Yechury also said some elements were 'cynically' using the situation to further their petty partisan interests.
Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Monday rejected senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi's attack on Home Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of CAG indictment of his ministry for alleged favours to private firms, saying such attacks would harm decision making at higher levels.
Despite their cut motions being defeated in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition parties on Tuesday claimed moral victory, saying they had been successful in pressurising the United Progressive Alliance over the issue of price rise. "Our only purpose behind introducing the cut motion was to pressurise the government into rolling back the prices of petrol and diesel. We did not want to destabilise the government," CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said.
The return of the Communist Party of India - Marxist-led Left Front in Tripura and the victory of the Forward Bloc in Nalhati in West Bengal reflects the "re-emergence" of the Left parties, said senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury.
It was almost sure Amitabh Bachchan would soon be the brand ambassador for the Kerala tourism. But there is a Marxian twist in the tale.
As soon as the Question Hour began, the issue was raised by Ramgopal Yadav (SP) and supported by RJD members. Even CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury favoured the revocation of the suspension. Members from the treasury benches, however, insisted that the suspended members should tender apology.
"The roadmap given by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee makes it clear that this budget will increase financial burden on common people," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters outside Parliament.
If you stop siphoning off this money and instead use it to provide food security, to provide education for our youth, then, India's true potential can be achieved, says Sitaram Yechury.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday accused the Congress and the Centre of "thoroughly mishandling" the Telengana issue that has led to "tension and conflict" in Andhra Pradesh and demanded immediate start of consultations to restore peace and normalcy.
In a unique initiative, students from IIM-Ahmedabad will work with Communist Party of India - Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury and help in planning for the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme this year. They will be involved in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Provisions of the Right to Information Act will be analysed. Students will assess funds spent by the constituency and create a monitoring system.
Left parties on Monday approached the Election Commission demanding that West Bengal's borders with other states be sealed during the coming assembly polls there to ensure that Maoists do not trigger violence.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed two adjournments during the pre-lunch sitting following uproar over Centre sending a team of officials to West Bengal to assess the situation in the state after a spate of violence.
In a fresh bid to end the Parliament deadlock, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will on Friday meet leaders of the Left Front and other non-Bharatiya Janata Party opposition parties. Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav are among those who will attend the meeting.On Thursday, the Speaker met BJP leaders but failed to bridge the differences as they insisted on a JPC.
In a bid to take on the government in Parliament on its decision to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said it has submitted notices in both the Houses seeking a discussion on the issue under rules entailing voting.
The dinner was attended by a select few guests like Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, BJD leader Jay Panda and National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon.
The standoff in Parliament over a joint Parliamentary probe into the alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation continued on Tuesday with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adjourning till noon, following uproar by the opposition parties.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday asked the Election Commission to convene an all-party meeting to allay their apprehensions about the reliability of electronic voting machines.
While the Left will listen to what Barack Obama has to say in Parliament, he should also listen to their concerns, says CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury.
This is the first meeting between Gandhi and Kumar since the latter walked out of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar and formed a 'Mahagathbandhan' government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and outside support of the Left.
The alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)".
The Budget proposal for creation of electoral trusts for political donations came in for severe criticism by Left parties, with the CPI(M) saying it would be the "fountainhead of all political corruption".
Questioning the suggestion that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee should mediate between government and the Maoists, the Communist Party of India Marxist on Friday wondered how she could do that when she was 'openly siding' with the ultra-Left brigade.
Alleging that a Union minister was openly supporting Maoists, the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday joined hands in the Rajya Sabha to slam Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her controversial remarks on the killing of Maoist leader Azad
On August 17, the Rajya Sabha for the first time will take up a case of impeachment of a sitting judge of the Calcutta high court, Justice Soumitra Sen. An impeachment motion will be moved by Communist party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury.
Opposition and allies alike slammed Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee for the train collission in Sainthia.
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.
While Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the Interim Budget was nothing but a 'perorative' (lengthy and pompous) document and government had in fact lowered the expenditure on major social structure schemes, CPI leaders Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja called it a 'lollipop' budget meant for the coming elections.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's decision to skip the funeral of CPI-M veteran Jyoti Basu has snowballed into a major controversy.On Thursday, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury alleged that Banerjee has 'insulted' the people of West Bengal by not attending the state funeral of the former West Bengal chief minister.It was not the Bengal CM, but Sonia Gandhi's elite Special Protection Group, which made Banerjee stay away from the funeral.
"By not attending (the funeral) and justifying her absence, she has insulted the people of Bengal who turned out in lakhs. Now they will have to decide," he told media persons when asked to comment on the Railway minister's absence at the funeral on Tuesday.
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