The Left Front had a choice in September 2007, either to push for an immediate general election or to permit the United Progressive Alliance to complete its full term without making a fuss. In trying to be too clever by half the Left Front must now both swallow the chillies of humiliation at being outwitted and accept the lash of public anger in an election.
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.
"We are seriously discussing that it may not be possible to continue any longer in the Cabinet because of unprecedented police brutalities in Nandigram," senior RSP leader and party member of Parliament Monoj Bhattacherjee told PTI.
The police used lathis and fired teargas shells, one of which landed on the bonnet of the car of TC chief who was inside the hospital then.
Get your low down on what's happening in the Malayalam film industry, right here!
The Left Front on Saturday asked the Centre to officially declare that the India-United States nuclear agreement is 'off' when the UPA-Left committee meets on Monday. Making it clear that they are not going to wait indefinitely, the Left parties said a clear-cut response from the government was essential to "end the controversy on the agreement." what we expect is that they should clearly say that the deal is off or that it has been put on hold," said CPI leader A B Bardhan.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday clearly stated that she was against early elections and ruled out any confrontation with the Left Front over the India-United States nuclear agreement. "No, we are not in favour of early elections. As the prime minister has said, the deadline is 2009. We are going to do all that we can to see that we implement our programmes till 2009," she said. Gandhi said that the govt will be working towards reaching a consensus with the Left.
The conduct of puniyaham (purification) after the visit of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi's son Ravikrishna on the ground that his mother hailed from a Christian family has triggered a statewide debate on entry of non-Hindus into the temple.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury disagreed with recent opinion poll findings that the Left would receive a drubbing if the country went to polls on the nuclear issue.
The Left will give the government its time frame after meeting with the United Progressive Alliance on September 19.
Seeking to expedite the process, the front had also empowered all partners to initiate peace parleys on their own and talk to the Opposition.
After two adjournments on Tuesday, Shekawat tried to break the impasse by counselling members that they should uphold the tradition of allowing the Leader of the Opposition to make his submission.
"If they have a hidden agenda, the people of this country must know," Sibal said in Kolkata on Saturday.
An important political milestone during the year was the return of the Left Front to power with an over two-thirds majority.
The Sabarimala Karma Samiti, a platform of right-wing outfits, including VHP, appealed to media houses not to depute women journalists in the menstrual age group to cover the developments in Sabarimala.
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.
As the prime minister prepares to make a speech about the deal in the Parliament on Monday, what do you think the Left should do?
According to a source, the chief minister told the meeting that compensation, which is a major demand by allies and opposition parties, could be given after following due procedure.
Former minister Shahnawaz Hussain won in Bhagalpur.
Repeated requests by Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal failed to restore normalcy forcing him to adjourn the House.
While the Trinamool government, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, tried its best to attract investors, including from Singapore, not much headway could be made.
There was speculation that India might sign a civil nuclear pact with Russia in its attempt to garner support in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which Russia is an important member.
Has the UPA decided that, Hyde Act or not, there's no risk at all of a US ban on our further nuclear testing because we are not going to do another test?
The Left Front government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal got tributes from the US-India Business Council.
"I don't rule out the possibility of finding a consensus. It depends upon what steps the government takes. After all, it is not a one-issue or a one-party government but a coalition," said CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan. Bardhan accused the United States of rushing its high officials and diplomats to India to "pressurise the government and the BJP" to go ahead with the deal. "Some times there are allurements, sometime threats and sometime blackmail," Bardhan said
"One message that the US is articulating very clearly to India is that this is an opportunity that doesn't come around often. They ought to take this opportunity," US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said. "We don't have forever. The reality of our politics is that the Congress made a huge effort to pass the necessary law in the United States. The Congress has to have one more vote that has to be taken. We don't want to go too deep in 2008." he said.
A group of Indian-American community leaders are planning to travel to New Delhi and convince the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Front to accept the deal as it is in the best interests of both countries. "Many of us are planning a trip to New Delhi in November to meet leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpai, L K Advani, Brajesh Mishra, Prakash Karat and others to exchange ideas," said chairman of the Dallas based US-India Forum, Ashok Mago.
West Bengal's Left Front government is working on a proposal to find a solution to the stand-off over acquisition of land in Singur for Tata Motors' car plant, veteran CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu said on Friday.
The bypolls for four seats were conducted on September 16.
Is the CPI-M willing to acknowledge that its cadres were involved in the violent incidents in Nandigram?
The share of the four Left parties may drop drastically to 38 to 48 seats from their present tally of 59 seats.
Voting is being held in 59 of the total 60 seats .
'The next prime minister will be from an Opposition party and not from the BJP.' 'The BJP may be the single largest party, but not with a majority and there will be a fractured verdict.' Anti-Modi and non-BJP parties will be in a majority.'
West Bengal: Jaitley meets Mamta over poll alliance
The new Left Front government in Kerala was targeting Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) investments and Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) income from the tourism sector this year besides aiming to generate 50,000 employment opportunities.
Non-availability of minimum facilities is the sacrifice the rural poor are being forced to make in pursuit of the Left's ideology.
'The success of the bandh showed that the people had little confidence in the government. We hope that the government has been able to understand the message of the people,' Banerjee said.
The land acquisition process by the West Bengal government for the Tata Motors plant here suffered another setback on Tuesday with farmers preventing a hearing by the administration on those who did not wish to give up their land.
An interview with Amit Mitra, the finance minister of West Bengal.
DP World (formerly known as Dubai Ports) is keen on setting up a greenfield airport in West Bengal near Kolkata, which is a long standing demand of the ruling Left Front government.
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