Asking the government not to use taxpayers money to bail out scam-struck Satyam, the CPI(M) on Friday demanded confiscation of about 17,500 acres of land, given to it and two Maytas companies by the Andhra Pradesh government, to pay for the salaries of its 53,000 employees.
After decades of leaning towards the neighbouring Communist comrades in China, the Communist Party of India-Marxist is having a critical look on the shift in policies of Chinese Communist Party that is taking "imponderable" steps like the decision to admit capitalists into the party.
Communist Party of India Marxist would support the candidature of United Progressive Alliance's nominee Hamid Ansari for the post of vice president and would make a formal announcement on Monday, senior party leader Sitaram Yechuri said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters, he recalled that it was the CPI-M, along with other Left parties, which had proposed the name of Ansari in 2007 for the vice president's post, which was accepted by the Congress-led UPA.
The expulsion of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India-Marxist for defying the party diktat to step down ends on a bitter note the political journey of a man who was the Marxist outfit's most articulate face with liberal views in Parliament for nearly four decades.
In a joint operation, the Criminal Investigation Department and Mumbai police on Saturday arrested absconding former Communist Party of India Marxist Member of Parliament Lakshman Seth and two others, who were chargesheeted in the 2007 Nandigram violence case in which seven people were killed, from a lodge at Chembur in Mumbai. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kurla, ordered transit remand as sought by the CID till March 22 on production of Seth.
Making it clear that the Left would not budge from its firm stand, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said to 'Kairali' TV channel, "We will not compromise, if they go ahead with the strategic alliance with the US. If they go ahead to fulfil their word with President Bush, for 40 years this agreement will bind India. It will affect our independent foreign policy. We cannot accept that.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal said they have received a complaint in this regard and a probe has been initiated.
Six people have been injured, five of them seriously, in separate incidents of violence involving RSS-BJP and CPI-M activists in Kodiyeri locality near the neighbouring Thalassery town, police said on Sunday.
In a setback to Communist Party of India-Maxist in Kerala, several of the party's district and local functionaries figure in a charge sheet filed on Monday by police in the case of murder of Marxist rebel and Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan in May last.
Mahdhani briefed about his health condition and matters related to the cases against him, Poonthura Siraj, working chairman of PDP, who was with Vijayan, told reporters.
Hours after the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was passed in Parliament, 50 individuals embroiled in land disputes in Kerala's Munambam joined the BJP, hoping for a resolution to their claims. The residents, who have been protesting for 174 days, allege that the Waqf Board is claiming ownership of their properties. BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar assured them of the party's support and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express gratitude. The BJP capitalized on the Catholic Church's support for the legislation, accusing the Congress and the Left of appeasement politics. The opposition, however, questioned the impact of the bill on the Munambam issue.
The CPM on Monday decided to explore avenues to resolve its differences with the UPA government about the Indo-US nuclear agreement. the party stopped short of saying it would withdraw support if the govt goes ahead & operationalises the pact.
Shah also attacked the Congress and said "the party was finished in the country due to corruption and family rule."
The two senior most leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist are at the loggerhead over alliance or adjustment with the Congress.
For the first time, the case naming a specific murder of a man in 1980s was registered against Idukki district CPI-M Secretary M M Mani and four others in Rajakad police station in the district, police said.
Leading the party in the state since 1998, the re-election of the 67-year-old leader again demonstrated his hold on CPI(M), which often in the past passed through grim phases of factional trend involving him and former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.
The 19th Congress of the CPI-M in Coimbatore on Wednesday discussed the uneven growth of the party in the country. It demanded scrapping the Article 355, 356.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday said it would forge a 'third alternative' of non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties on a common policy platform, as it did not agree with the policies pursued by the two major parties.
"The execution of the death sentence will be a form of judicial assassination," the CPI(M) said, urging all sections of the people to protest the death sentence.
Opposition parties in India have criticized the imposition of President's rule in strife-torn Manipur, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of failing to address the ethnic violence and using the measure to cover up internal conflicts within the party. They demanded a clear roadmap for restoring peace and questioned the government's lack of transparency and inaction on the issue. The violence, which erupted in May 2023, has left over 250 people dead.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday hit out at the Communist Party of India-Marxist for seeking to link the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee to Rajdhani Express hijack. He also talked tough on Maoist violence, saying no democracy could accept "violence as an instrument of change".
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said the move is a 'retrograde step' and asked as to why interest rates on employees' lifetime savings are getting cut when RBI has increased interest rates.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Saturday accused the Election Commission of being indifferent to the violation of the model code of conduct by the Trinamool Congress and said it might seek legal recourse.
The CPI(M) leader said when the Nepali people overcome these obstacles, they shall create history by transforming this Himalayan Hindu kingdom into a modern democratic nation state based on democracy.
Improvised cannons and illegal firearms were seized from near a Communist Party of India-Marxist office and another area in West Bengal on Thursday by the police and the joint forces.
CPI (M) veteran Jyoti Basu had on Sunday said that formation of the seventh Left Front government in the state would be a fitting a tribute to Biswas.
Three years after the expulsion of Marxist stalwart Somnath Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the party has dropped a broad hint of considering his return if there was a specific proposal.
Associated with all the major working class struggles in the country in the last three decades, Pandhe played a key role in bringing about the unity of the central trade unions.
Employees face a bleak future, CPI (M) said.
The BJP received the highest amount in large donations among national parties in the financial year 2023-24, with over Rs 2,243 crore declared from 8,358 donations, according to a report by poll rights body the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report, based on data submitted to the Election Commission, highlighted trends in political donations above Rs 20,000. The total declared donations to national parties stood at Rs 2,544.28 crore from 12,547 contributions - a sharp 199 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The CPI(M) has said that India has caved in to US pressure.
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
The CPI-M said it does not want to part of government "stock-taking."
Communist Party of India-Marxist's decision to fight the upcoming by-elections in Andhra Pradesh on its own has left the political arena in the state open. CPI-M's decision has rattled opposition Telugu Desam Party, which always saw a 'natural ally' in it.
With an eye on assembly elections in Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi mounted an attack on the Communist Party of India-Marxist in its stronghold, accusing it of indulging in "politics of violence" on Monday.
While the Congress was a unifying force, the Left front was divisive, he said adding "wherever we go, we unify everybody. We are a unifying force. Wherever we go we identify everybody and unite them and make them strong".
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.
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.
In a stinging attack at his former party, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on Tuesday that the Communist Party of India-Marxist has reduced itself to a "non-actor" in national politics after withdrawing support to the Congress-led coalition describing the action as a "big blunder".
