The ruling coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state assembly against 110 clinched by the opposition Grand Alliance to pave the way for a fourth successive term for Kumar in office.
From the voter-level, traditionally anti-BJP, anti-Hindutva minorities and other secular voters would have an option, especially in the face of the mounting anti-incumbency against the ruling party -- as it happened in the 2001 assembly polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ignoring the Communist Party of India-Marxist official line, party veteran V S Achuthanandan today set out to Kundankulam to pledge solidarity with anti-nuclear protesters but was stopped by Tamil Nadu Police at the border town of Kaliyikkavila near Thiruvananthapuram.
Communist Party of India-Marxist Central Committee's endorsement of the expulsion of three personal staff of former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan is being seen as a setback to the veteran leader locked in a bitter feud with the dominant faction led by state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has questioned his successor Mamata Banerjee's honesty, prompting an angry rebuttal Wednesday from Trinamool Congress which demanded an apology from the Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran.
While the CPI-M in a statement after the secretariat on Friday maintained that Balakrishnan, who is also a Polit Bureau member, had sought leave for further treatment which had been accepted, the leader of opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala dubbed the move as a delayed dawning of wisdom.
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.
Bharatiya Janjata Party veteran L K Advani's suggestion for a collegium to appoint Election Commissioners and Comptroller and Auditor General was on Tuesday backed by United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo on Thursday turned down veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu's proposal to quit the party's highest policy-making body because of age and ill health.
Opposition members were up on their feet, holding up placards and banners seeking the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other ministers over corruption allegations.
Under attack from veteran leader Somnath Chatterjee over the Left's electoral debacle, Communist Party of India - Marixst general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday remained tightlipped about criticism of his leadership and said his party would react to it. "I won't respond. My party will react (to Chatterjee's charge)," Karat told reporters. "He (Chatterjee) is not in the party. So I don't need to react," he said.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Banerjee, who was speaking to reporters at West Bengal's state secretariat, said that her party's name will remain the All India Trinamool Congress.
The PDP has 28 MLAs, followed by NC's 15 and the Congress's 12. The three parties together will have majority in the 87-member House. The Bharatiya Janata Party is the second largest party in the state with 25 members.
'If unity is not going to be based on values and principles, how will we achieve it?'
On Easter, April 9, 10,000 BJP workers are being assigned to visit the houses of 100,000 Christian families. Plans are afoot to visit the homes of Muslims on Eid.
Communist Party of India - Marxist veteran Prakash Karat was on Monday re-elected general secretary for the third consecutive term at the party's 20th Congress, which concluded in Kozhikode, Kerala. Karat, 64, was elected as general secretary in 2005 at the New Delhi Congress and reelected at Coimbatore for the second term. Attended by over 700 delegates from all states, the meet, which had deliberated on the poll debacle the CPI-M suffered in West Bengal and Kerala.
Alleging a conspiracy in leakage of telephone conversation between state Information Commissioner, K Natarajan and Vigilance officer V J Kunju, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader V S Achutanandan on Tuesday submitted before Kerala high court that efforts were on to implicate him in the land assignment case.
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
China's deteriorating economy is a serious concern. Xi Jinping and China's new premier will have a difficult task ahead of them after the 20th party congress, notes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and China expert.
While Prakash Karat was re-elected as the general secretary of the CPI-M, veteran leaders Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet will no longer be part of the party's politburo, but will stay on as senior figureheads. West Bengal ministers Nirupam Sen and Mohammed Amin, and Kerala home and tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan are the new members in the politburo.
In a veiled attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for "encouraging imperialism", Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday said it was unprecedented that the state government was eager to invite a United States president next year.
Janata Dal-Secular president and former prime minister H D Dewa Gowda has dissolved the Kerala committee of the party led by veteran leader and former Member of Parliament M P Veerendrakumar.While Veerendrakumar alleged that Gowda has dissolved the state committee in accordance with the wishes of Kerala Communist Party of India-Marxist secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Gowda claimed that he had never even met Vijayan.
The parents of the girl, political leaders and women rights activists today hailed the Supreme Court order setting aside the Kerala high court's acquittal of 35 accused in the Suryanelli gang rape case.
Coming out against the report of the Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on Mullaperiyar dam, over which Kerala and Tamil Nadu are at loggerheads, Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan on Monday said it was "unilateral and in favour of Tamil Nadu".
If political analysts and party insiders are to be believed, the CPI-M would soon be divided into two easily identifiable groups: Pro-Prakash Karat and anti-Karat. "Some veteran party members are only awaiting the trust vote result. Should the United Progressive Alliance government win, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his team will be in for some rude shocks," say party insiders.
In an informal conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra, Salim speaks about Trinamool Congress' much-hyped poriborton, what made Left fare badly at the last Lok Sabha and municipal elections among many other issues.
After his 'inadvertent' comment against Rajiv Gandhi enraged Congress legislators in the state assembly, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the late prime minister. Speaking after inaugurating the Communist Party of India - Marxist's local committee office at Thamarakkulam, the veteran Marxist leader said Rajiv Gandhi was "no better than Sanjay Gandhi."
Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan filed nomination for contesting the assembly elections from his sitting seat Malampuzha in Palakkad district on Thursday. Achuthanandan filed his papers before joint registrar (co-operatives) A N Pradeepraj, who is the returning officer for the segment.
Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Shiv Sena on Monday refused to call off the protest against the book launch of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in Mumbai.
Just like veteran Marxist leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister Joyti Basu, a senior Maoist leader, who is currently lodged in a Bihar jail has offered to donate his body for medical research.
For the first time in the history of the Communist Party of India - Marxist, its two founding members Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet will give a miss to the party's 19th All India Congress, which begins in Coimbatore on Saturday, due to health-related reasons. The 94-year-old Basu expressed his regret and inability to attend the Congress. "Their absence would be deeply felt. But both the comrades, we know, are always with us," MP Brinda Karat said.
After Shah said Hindi is the most spoken language which can unite the nation as a common language, Tamil Nadu parties rallied against it.
Celebrities like veteran Bengali actor and chairman of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Ranjit Mullick and percussionist Tanmoy Bose want Mamata's promise to be viewed not in its face value but in its spirit.
Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India - Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan on Wednesday got into trouble over his comment about his opponent and Congress leader in Malampuzha segment Lathika Subhash.Subhash moved the Election Commission and court against him for making a 'defamatory' remark against her.The row was sparked by Achuthanandan's comment at a press meet in Palakkad on Tuesday when he said, "They are famous, and, if you inquire, you will know why."
Former Kerala chief minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achutanandan on Tuesday filed a petition in the Kerala high court seeking a direction to build a new dam at Mullaperiyar.
She was capable of a level of human compassion that is rare today among politicians, recalls Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who knew the Communist legend K R Gowri, who passed into the ages on May 11, from his childhood.
Both Ramala and Subhas took care of the old and ailing Basu in his last years and paid a visit to his Indira Bhawan residence regularly.
Bengal's ace writer Sunil Gangopadhyay shared his opinions about the former West Bengal chief minister with rediff.com.
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