Nepal's Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum-Democratic, the second largest partner in the ruling Maoist-led coalition, today suffered a jolt as 10 of its top leaders quit from the party to form a new group.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
Two trade union leaders and the wife of one of them were detained in connection with investigations into Maoist network in the national capital, police sources said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded the immediate withdrawal of central forces from Lalgarh in West Midnapore district and asked the Centre to take up development programmes there."We demand immediate withdrawal of the joint security forces, who are committing atrocities on innocent villagers in the name of nabbing Maoists, and urge the Centre to take up development programmes at Lalgarh as early as possible," said a senior Trinamool Congress leader.
Reports of a factional feud in China's powerful ruling Communist Party over the purge of charismatic leader Bo Xilai, known for his radical Maoist views, have been discounted by the state-run media which said "stir" over his ouster will fade soon.
A Delhi court on Monday charged alleged top naxal leader Kobad Ghandy with being a member of a banned terror outfit and furthering its activities in violation of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
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".
West Bengal government-appointed interlocutors on asserted that the dialogue process with Maoists to restore peace in the 'junglemahal' area is on even as the offensive against the rebels continued.
Though it has been accused of politicising the army action and its critics have also referred to the growing violence in Kashmir under its tenure to question the effectiveness of its policies, the saffron party believes that the surgical strikes continue to have resonance on the ground and can help it build a positive narrative in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
With his exit, the TMC will lose a crucial, politically influential vote catcher in the Jungalmahal region and areas in minority-dominated Murshidabad, and the BJP will get a face it badly needs, especially in rural Bengal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
39-year-old Majhi, a prominent tribal leader, who represented Umerkote assembly constituency, had gone to Gona village to distribute land pattas when the incident took place, Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj said.
In the increasingly bipolar West Bengal, Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya encounters a different campaign rally in Jhargram -- that of jailed leader of disbanded PCPA and alleged Maoist sympathaiser, Chhatradhar Mahato.
Veteran Communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal was on Saturday elected unopposed as the prime minister of Nepal, bringing to an end the nearly three-week long political crisis in the country. The 56-year-old Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) leader, who claims to have the support of 351 lawmakers in the 601-member Constituent Assembly, was the only candidate to have filed the nomination for the top post. The Maoists boycotted the voting process.
Eight wanted Naxals, three of them carrying rewards on their heads, were arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bastar region on Thursday, the police said.
The Maoist-infested state needs a visionary leader and Hemant Soren is definitely not one, opines Aditi Phadnis
He also said that after the "historic verdict", the country has moved ahead on a new path, with a new resolve.
'The power of love is the greatest power in the world.' 'Add a smile and you can conquer the world,' Bengali actor June Maliah, the Trinamool Congress's candidate for the Medinipur constituency, tells Swarupa Dutt/Rediff.com.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy Shyam Saran started hectic parleys with Nepalese leaders on Thursday to help form a consensus government amidst deepening political crisis in Katmandu.
With the hostage crisis getting complicated by the fresh demands made by Maoists, Orissa government and the mediators are likely to take the help of Naxalite leader Ganti Prasadam to secure the release of Malkangiri district collector R V Krishna, official sources said.
In an ominous development, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has roped in separatist leaders and their sympathisers to make inroads in Naxal ranks in its anti-India strategies after making a failed attempt to enlist the support of the Maoist rebels.
If Prachanda is prudent and mature, he won't let relations with India be marred by anti-India posturing. Will he be able to do that? India's long border with Nepal has seen an unusual growth in madarssas and jihadi activities. Will Prachanda's Nepal help handle that?
A woman self-styled Maoist commander on Friday surrendered before the police in West Midnapore district alleging sexual exploitation by ultra leaders.
Polling began on Tuesday morning in 35 constituencies spread across eight districts in the fifth and penultimate phase of the assembly elections in Bihar under the shadow of a boycott call by Maoists. In the 17 constituencies that have been declared 'Maoist-hit', voting began at 7 am and will end at 3 pm. Polling in the remaining constituencies will end at 5 pm.
60-year-old Khanal, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), secured 368 of the 557 votes cast in the 601-member Parliament, the speaker announced.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the attack.
'This allows opportunities for (Chinese) entry into the domestic politics of Nepal, something that is also encouraged by Nepali politicians's willingness to play the China card (vis-a-vis India).'
'Naxals, when they encountered our commandos on Sunday morning, fired first.' 'We gave them warnings to surrender, but they continued firing.' 'Ultimately, our commandos responded in self-defence and that resulted in the death of 37 Naxals.'
The Trinamool Congress will file a defamation suit against the Communist Party of India-Marxist and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for equating the party with the Maoists.
With heavy security deployment in hyper-sensitive areas of Bastar region ahead of polls, Naxalites are apparently trying to change their course of action and mobilising cadres to town areas to attack "soft targets" outside their core hold, intelligence sources said.
However, the US praises India for its significant counter-terrorism actions.
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a leader of Maoists-backed the People's Committee against Police Atrocities on Saturday for alleged involvement in derailment of Gyaneswari Express that left 148 people dead in West Midnapore district, the fourth arrest in the case.
Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Saturday resigned even as Parliament prepares to elect a new premier tomorrow after parties failed to forge a consensus amid continued protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the country's new Constitution.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday visited the house of a Central Reserve Police Force jawan who was among the 76 security personnel killed in the Maoist attack in Dantewada in April and assured the family of full support from the Central government.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari on Saturday alleged that a deal had been brokered between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress by a reputed industrialist in a hotel to "stop the BJP at any cost" from coming to power in Delhi.
"Pawar said April 4 in the afternoon will be convenient for him as Parliament session would be over by then. Accordingly, the Commission has summoned him on April 4," Malik told reporters at the state secretariat in Mumbai.
Charges and counter-charges over links with Maoists flew thick and fast between the Opposition and the government on Thursday as the Lok Sabha began discussion on the Dantewada Naxal attack.
To Kanu Sanyal, the world consisted of two things -- right and wrong. There was no in between. Inspired by hardcore radicalism, Sanyal was someone who would fight till his last breath. Which is why I am startled by his suicide. Why would someone who was willing to lay down his life for others hang himself? What ailed him?Was it his own disillusionment or his frustration at the failure of a movement that he and his friends laid down their lives for?
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan is working overtime to ensure the victory of his son Chirag Paswan, who is contesting from the Jamui parliamentary constituency in Bihar.
Expressing concern over the recent Maoist activities, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a recent meeting with a UML team in Delhi had said that the unity between the Nepali Congress and UML be strengthened.
