The Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance, which fought the April 2 assembly polls with the fancy claim of winning at least 35 seats in Kerala, on Sunday came a cropper as it failed to retain even its lone segment Nemom, even as all its major contestants, including 'Metroman' E Sreedharan and party state chief K Surendran, fell by the wayside.
Rampant corruption by Congress ministers must be counted as the single biggest factor to prompt the electorate to hand over a thumping mandate to the Communist parties, says M K Bhadrakumar.
Nationalist Congress Party in Kerala, a component of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front, has conveyed its reservations to the central leadership over the offer of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government in Maharashtra.
In a boost to the United Democratic Front ahead of assembly polls in Kerala next year, the Congress candidate K S Sabarinadhan on Tuesday won the Aruvikkara assembly by-poll by a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest rival M Vijayakumar of the Opposition Left Democratic Front.
Minutes after she concluded her press conference, she told a TV channel that her colleague Sarith PS, who also worked with her at HRDS India, had been kidnapped in broad daylight from her home by 3 or 4 unknown people.
Both LDF and UDF are finding it hard to set their houses in order.
The base camps of Pamba and Nilackal witnessed intensified protests as the Lord Ayyappa temple opens for the five-day monthly pooja on Wednesday evening, for the first time after the landmark top court verdict.
The exit poll results were released at the end of the polling in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, marking the closure of voting in four states and Puducherry.
'If Kerala votes back the LDF, if Tamil Nadu brings the DMK and if Bengal votes for the Trinamool, we will project a formidable opposition to the BJP.'
Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat, Yadav said that the first priority of his party was to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party's progress in West Bengal.
'The presence of Rahul Gandhi and his campaigning for the Congress will make a general difference, but whether it will make a saving difference, not sure.'
Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group plans to invest over Rs 4,000 crore in future technologies by setting up a Knowledge Park and a branch of the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) at Kozhikode in Kerala.
Unlike previous days, the House even saw Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front members standing up from their seats and locking horns with opposition members, prompting the Speaker to warn both sides.
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.
In a rare gesture, not only the legislators of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-headed Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front, but the lone Bharatiya Janata Party member in the 140-member state assembly, O Rajagopal, also supported the resolution against the Centre, saying 'it is the democratic spirit'.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
'When I joined politics at 53, I thought I had left it too late to make the kind of impact I felt I was capable of. What can I say about someone who is 88?'
In a major embarrassment to the Congress-led United Democratic Frontn government in Kerala, state Finance Minister K M Mani was on Thursday booked by the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau in the bar bribe scam.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the land of tourism like Kerala has turned into "nursery of terrorism", as he accused the Congress-led government of ignoring the state's development agenda.
Congress leader A K Antony on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial Kerala-Somalia comparison will impact the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been pulling out all the stops in its bid to open its account in Kerala assembly.
In a U-turn, the Left Democratic Front government of Kerala on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it favoured the entry of women of all age groups in the historic Sabarimala temple in the state.
The module was also planning to carry out targeted killings in India and was in the advanced stage of procuring arms, including automatic rifles and pistols, ammunition and explosives to carry out the attacks, he said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pointed out that since the court had not stayed its September 28 verdict, there was no other option but to allow women in the age group of 10-50 years during the upcoming pilgrim season.
The Kerala government has made it clear that it would not provide security to any woman of menstruating age visiting the shrine, as per Devaswom Board Minister K Surendran.
'The regime -- and particularly the home ministry under Amit Shah -- have sought to suppress and destroy these struggles through intimidation, bullying, threats, through false cases, arrests, custodial torture, the use of draconian laws like the UAPA.'
Born in a Hindu family as Akhila Asokan, the woman converted to Islam and adopted the name 'Hadiya' after entering into wedlock with a Muslim man Shefin Jahan in 2016.
There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries.
A total of 1,203 candidates, including 109 women, are contesting for the 140 assembly seats in which a total of 2.61 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
'Oommen Chandy may well prove to be the Teflon chief minister whose reputation cannot be tarnished,' predicts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'It is sad that Kerala had so many Covid patients which is primarily due to the mismanagement of the Left government.' 'The technical committee was full of CPI-M leaders who happen to have medical degrees with no experience in public health.' 'They were advising the CM and we are paying for those mistakes.'
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
CM Pinnarayi Vijayan said 'deliberate' efforts were being made to destroy the state's unity and secular fabric.
Though the party defended him saying "the case and his arrest is politically motivated."
'The condition of some of the Adivasi hamlets is worse than Somalia, worse than what the prime minister described.' 'There are instances when Adivasis have to demolish the hut they live in to bury the dead as they do not have any other place to bury their dear ones.' 'There are tens of thousands of Adivasis who do not have land, a house or even good food to eat.' 'What kind of human development are you talking about?'
The director general of police said everyone in the force should have to perform their duties irrespective of their religion and politics.
Protesting against the police action, BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday.
The first batch of police personnel had taken charge of the security on Saturday.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women -- Bindu and Kanakadurga, and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition.
In the printed copy of his address, prepared by the state government and distributed to legislators and media, there was a reference to the alleged tendency of the central government to 'roughshod' the traditions of cooperative federalism by bypassing the state government.
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