If a 15 seconds-long mic problem merits a case being registered, then the police risk an avalanche of complaints of similar and greater gravity, seeking their intervention, notes Shyam G Menon.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said he would not appeal against the Vigilance Court order of a probe into his alleged role in the Palmolein oil import case. "I will not do anything that will hamper the investigation process," Chandy told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. He also rejected the Opposition's allegation that the vigilance probe would not be impartial as long as he (Chandy) continued to be the chief minister.
The resignation of Forest Minister K B Ganesh Kumar following allegations of domestic violence had its echo in the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday where opposition Left Democratic Front demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should step down on moral grounds.
Maintaining that a Supreme Court appointed panel on Mullaperiyar Dam had accepted Kerala's demand for a new reservoir, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said the state, which is locked in a row with Tamil Nadu on the issue, would bring it to the court's notice.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
Terming Italy's decision not to send back its two marines as a "diplomatic tragedy," Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said it is the responsibility of the Centre to bring them back to India.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday told DMK supremo M Karunanidhi that Tamilians living in Kerala are "totally safe" and that the apprehensions voiced by him in this regard in the wake of tension between the two states over the Mullaperiyar dam issue were "unfounded".
With the standoff between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the Mullaperiyar dam issue escalating, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who has been under attack from the Communist Party of India - Marxist over the solar panel scam, on Friday met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political developments in the state.
The Kerala high court on Tuesday stayed a lower court order directing investigation into the role of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the 1992 palmolein import case. Chandy was the finance minister in the K Karunakaran cabinet when the deal was inked.
A Kudumbashree worker, who had gone missing last week, was found allegedly murdered and buried in a ditch in the compound of a former colleague's house in Tuvvur in this district, police said on Tuesday.
The Centre has agreed to consider the Kerala government's request for establishing an Indian Institute of Technology centre in the state, Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy told the assembly on Monday.
Senior leader K Karunakaran and his son Muraleedharan boycotted the swearing in ceremony.
Oomen Chandy poll rival remanded to custody
Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy is set to become the Kerala chief minister with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday opting out of the race for the top post. A meeting of the senior party leaders held at the KPCC headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram unanimously decided Chandy should lead the United Democratic Front ministry. The Congress Legislature Party meeting scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram later on Sunday will formalise the decision
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday said the United Democratic Front government's top priority is implementing the SmartCity IT project in Kochi after sorting out issues in the agreement the previous government had with promoters, Dubai based Tecom "which are against the state's interests."
The political fight erupted a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government has evacuated the families from Libya and that the Centre was committed to work for welfare of Indians living abroad. Kerala goes to polls on May 16.
Stating that the temple is a pride of Kerala, Oommen Chandy said, "It is the duty of the state and society to preserve the wealth." However, it was for the apex court to take a final decision on the matter, he added
A minor fire followed by smoke at the venue of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's mass contact programme held here amid tight security gave tense moments to police and other officials on Friday.
Suspending the vigilance court orders for two months, the high court also directed its administrative section to consider action against the vigilance court judge.
'Maybe this has created some minor issues which can happen in any party.'
Seeking the mandate for the 10th time after nine wins in a row is something rare in the slippery terrain of Kerala politics. But not so in the case of Congress's chief ministerial probable Oommen Chandy, who is back in the fray in his pocket borough Puthupally.
The political rhetoric of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan was not going to help the ruling Left Democratic Front in its 'losing battle' for the assembly polls as people of Kerala were keen on a change of rule, senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy said on Monday.
erala and Tamil Nadu will be going to polls on May 16 and ahead of the assembly elections, Rediff Labs analyses who's been making the most buzz
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
A day after Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was injured in stone pelting allegedly by Left Democratic Front workers in Kannur, police on Monday booked 17 Communist Party of India-Marxist activists for attempt to murder as the ruling and the opposition engaged in blame game over the incident.
Gandhi who visited the accident site and also met the injured, promised to do "whatever is possible" to provide succour to those affected by the massive tragedy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kollam visit to take stock of the temple firework tragedy was a "big relief" for the people of Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said in Kochi on Friday.
"The issue is not what someone has said. The issue is about starvation deaths and condition of tribal children in the state," Shah told reporters at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Beleaguered Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is under attack from the Communist Party of India - Marxist-led Left Democratic Front opposition ever since the solar scam broke out in June, has got a breather after the Front called off its two-day secretariat siege on Tuesday.
Asserting that the safety of its people is of utmost importance, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said the state does not have any "secret agenda" to pursue in the Mullaperiyar dam issue.
Kerala CM Oommen Chandy said the decision to exclude him from the function of unveiling of former CM R Sankar's statue at Kollam by PM Modi was a "painful experience".
The 'Solar panel' scam, which has brought the office of the Kerala chief minister under a cloud, rocked the state assembly on Monday with the Left Democratic Front opposition stepping up their demand for Oommen Chandy's resignation and a judicial probe into the matter.
Chandy said Modi had kept mum on the controversy and what Keralites want is not his silence, but an unconditional apology from the prime minister.
Locked in a bitter row with Tamil Nadu on the Mullaperiar Dam issue, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday maintained that the safety of the century-old dam was a "concern" for his state and that a new structure was a solution "where both sides win."
The victory of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front in 12 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state has made Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stronger as Kerala is one of the few states that bucked the anti-Congress trend in the country.
Voting for by-elections to seven assembly constituencies of six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, started on Tuesday at 7 am.
Throwing his weight behind tainted India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday said it is "wrong" on the Board of Control for Cricket in India's part to not revoke the ban on the fast bowler after a Delhi Court dropped criminal charges against him in the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal in the 2013 edition.
The chief minister, who reached the hospital amid protest by Democratic Youth Federation of India activists alleging lapses in the probe, consoled the mother of the victim and said steps would be taken to provide a government job to the victim's sister to support her family.
While even the Opposition doesn't believe that Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is personally involved in the solar scam, the Congress leaders reputation has been tainted. And while he tells Indulekha Aravind that it is only a conspiracy, it may have a bearing on the coming general elections
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