The Election Commission on Friday rebuffed Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan for his reported statement that central police force (CPF) personnel would be confined to barracks during by-polls to three assembly seats in the state tomorrow.
The Supreme Court today directed Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and the state government to produce before it "necessary material" relating to a case of alleged corruption involving former state Power Minister R Balakrishna Pillai of Congress.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
Former Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan was on Wednesday unanimously elected as leader of the CPI-M in the assembly. Achuthanandan will also head the 68-member Left Democratic Front opposition in the 140-member house.
The report filed by Vigilance SP V N Sasidharan said Chandy was not aware of the details of the decision to import palmolein through a Singapore based firm.
Reactions on the tragic incident have been pouring in since morning. Leaders cutting across various political parties and celebrities have expressed solidarity over the loss of life in the incident and prayed for the speedy recovery of injured.
Chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy -- have announced they will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting over alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget.
Adityanath says there is no scope for political violence in democracy.
In an application filed in the apex court, the Kerala government has also sought a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to control the water level by releasing water from the dam throughout the day instead of releasing a huge quantity of water at the wee hours without giving sufficient warning time.
The meeting was attended by 26 participants including Chief Ministers and Lt Governors of UTs, he said while briefing the media.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on the hit-list, not because the chief minister was unhappy with his performance, but because there were constant complaints from other ministers that he was sitting on their files far too long, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat meeting which went on for a marathon four hours on Wednesday, denied seat to the patriarch of the party, and the Chief Minister of Kerala, VS Achuthanandan, to contest the ensuing assembly elections slated for April 13.
Veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran, 91, was admitted to a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The former Kerala chief minister complained of breathlessness and fever.
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Stefan de Mistura on Thursday met the two arrested naval guards, charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast, at nearby Wellington Island. He was accompanied by Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice, Consul General in Mumbai Giampaolo Cuttillo and the ship's captain. Mistura's meeting on Wednesday night with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Kottayam had failed to end the stand-off over the issue.
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.
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 and senior Communist Party of India - Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan will be removed from the party's politburo and the central committee, said sources in New Delhi. The octogenarian leader, who is currently in New Delhi, will leave for Kerala early on Sunday morning, said sources.Though some leaders from West Bengal had voiced their support for Achuthanandan, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat remained firm on taking action against the Kerala CM.
A telephone call threatening that a bomb would be placed at the official residence of Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthandandan received by the police control room in Thiruvananthapuram.
Modi also visited one of the relief camps, which is home to many of those displaced in the massive landslides, and interacted with some of the survivors, including two children who lost their loved ones in the disaster that has claimed over 200 lives.
Police said 34-year-old Rajesh's left hand was chopped off in the attack which took place around 9 pm on Saturday night.
State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan's suspension will also continue.
The state government has 35 per cent stake in the airport, and the terminal would have the capacity to handle 2,000 passengers at a time, Minister for Ports and Airport K Babu said in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
A total of 11 special economic zones had been sanctioned in Kerala, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan informed the state assembly on Friday.
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.
'Senior Vatican officials were pleasantly surprised at the number of Indians who had come to witness the ceremony.'
