Left Front constituent Forward Bloc, which runs West Bengal's agriculture marketing board, and CPI-M leaders, on Sunday decided to renew Metro Cash & Carry's Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee licence on October 10. However, to protect small traders in the city, the State Agriculture Marketing Board will impose certain conditions on Metro, the modalities of which will be decided in the intervening period.
The fresh allegations of carrying out retail trade have come from the Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front government in Bengal, which had been opposing the entry of Metro on this ground. Forward Bloc-controlled APMC in the state has submitted a report stating the instances of violations of the terms of the Regulated Market Committee licence, said sources.
As their "political marriage" is all set to end, the Left parties are out to target the ruling UPA for which they are preparing a "chargesheet" against the government detailing its "unkept promises" and "obsession" with the nuclear deal.
The Left parties will submit by July 10 to President Pratibha Patil their letter withdrawing support to the UPA government, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said on Monday.
Fresh from confabulations with AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, CPI top leader A B Bardhan sees another opportunity for the Left parties to play a more effective role at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections next year.
The 24-hour bandh called by the Forward Bloc on Wednesday affected normal life in the state with rail and road transport disrupted even as police arrested 166 bandh supporters for putting up road blockades in many areas.
Rajya Sabha witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday as Opposition members stormed the well and reached the deputy chairman's seat to protest against the farm bills debated and passed by the Upper House through voice vote.
The party's decision, however, does not threaten the government's stability.
The Left parties on Friday demanded that the Centre probe into the source of "hundreds of crores of rupees of black money" spent on the auction of Indian cricketers and that how a senior member of the government was associated with the "'outrageous gambling".
Besides the SAD, the SP, the AIADMK and the TRS supported the idea; while the AAP, the TDP, the JD-S, the AIFB, the DMK, the TMC, the GFP and Left parties opposed it.
Top leaders of Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc are expected to meet in the third week of this month to devise a common stand the four parties should have vis-a-vis the Congress in view of the elections. At the meeting, the four parties will also discuss ways to resolve their inter-party wranglings and strengthen their unity further.
Seeking to expedite the process, the front had also empowered all partners to initiate peace parleys on their own and talk to the Opposition.
The roll out of Reliance Retail's fresh food format stores has hit a wall in West Bengal, where a key constituent of the state government is against big businesses entering agriculture and allied fields.
Left's massive campaign against joint naval exercise
Mukesh Ambani doesn't need my support but the agitation against Reliance shops in UP and West Bengal does draw attention to a certain sneaky trait in Indian life.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will contest 182 of 234 seats in the May 8 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, party supremo Jayalalithaa announced in Chennai Friday.
Left parties will meet in New Delhi Monday to give a final shape to their strategy on the crucial issue of disinvestment of Public Sector Units, with the government planning to divest its stake in some non-navratna companies.
"I did not get any such letter (announcing withdrawl of support). I learnt about it only through the media. I will speak to Debabrata Biswas (AIFB general secretary) on his party's grievances," Koda said when asked for his reaction.
Left parties on Tuesday sought 'effective intervention' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to bridle growing inflation and roll back 'arbitrary selling of national assets.'
More than 65,000 sex workers, their families and clients on Monday threatening to boycott polls.
Gearing themselves up to take on the Congress in the coming assembly polls, the Left parties Sunday charged it with plunging the country into "economic and political turmoil".
Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong met the Indian delegates and stressed that Sino-Indian relations not only conform to the fundamental interests of the people of both countries, but are also helpful to Asia and the world at large
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar by 2.84 votes.
Anita Bose Pfaff, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's only child, breaks her silence about her father, his often-turbulent relationship with Mahatma Gandhi and his mysterious death.
Releasing the list of LJP candidates, Paswan said his party would contest from around 200 seats leaving 37 and 3 for its electoral allies -- CPI and Forward Bloc.
'The Bloc was supporting the Congress party-led government to keep the 'communal Bharatiya Janata Party' away from power and if it felt the UPA was not implementing the CMP the party would review its support'
The Communist Party of India on Thursday voiced strong opposition to the Budget proposal to increase foreign direct investment cap in three key sectors of telecommunication, insurance and aviation threatening to take to the streets on this issue.
Chief Minister Stalin seems to have drawn a line between his personal beliefs and those of others in the family, beginning with wife Durga Stalin, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The nationwide strike on Tuesday called by the Left parties against the hike in petrol and diesel prices evoked a mixed response with it getting unruly in some parts of the country.
The Congress on Friday suspended two of its legislators for voting for the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha biennial election for five seats in West Bengal.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
'One of the reasons for the BJP's recent resounding success in West Bengal is the resentment of the locals against the Trinamool Congress for failing to maintain law and order.' 'So, it isn't only the supposed pampering of the Muslims by the Trinamool Congress which has undermined its base among the Hindus,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
In a first such action in India's electoral history, the Election Commission had Wednesday ordered campaigning in the nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 pm on Thursday, instead of 6 pm on Friday, in the wake of violence between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata during Amit Shah's roadshow.
Slamming the Union budget as 'insipid' and lacking in stimulus for growth, the Congress on Saturday said it does not address the main issue of unemployment and describes the mindset of the government.
Counting of votes would be take place on March 3
Accusing Trinamool Congress of creating widespread fear psychosis through "terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Left parties on Tuesday sought Election Commission's intervention to ensure free and fair polls.
In another display of the politics of threat in West Bengal, a ruling Trinamool Congress Member of Legislative Assembly openly threatened to "behead" a Congress leader in Birbhum district.
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