Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kollam visit to take stock of the temple firework tragedy was a "big relief" for the people of Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said in Kochi on Friday.
An all party meet in Kerala, held in the backdrop of the Kollam tragedy, on Thursday decided not to impose a total ban on fireworks display during festivities but advocated adherence to strict controls and checks and avoiding high-decibel crackers.
Inaugurating the solidarity rally, Venugopal, a Rajya Sabha MP, strongly condemned the war unleashed by Israel in Gaza and their attacks against hospitals and refugee camps there.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
Group rivalry in the Kerala Congress unit has intensified further as the political mission of chief minister Oommen Chandy to induct Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ramesh Chennithala into the cabinet has failed.
The Kerala government on Friday decided to recommend a judicial inquiry against central probe agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, which are investigating the gold and dollar smuggling cases.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
The youngest in the CWC is 31-year-old Neeraj Kundan, who is an ex-officio member of the body as the president of the National Students Union of India, the students' wing of the party.
The Congress chief met senior United Democratic Front leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala and P K Kunhalikutty.
A controversy has erupted over a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist and accused in a murder case placing a turban on the head of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Thiruvananthapuram last week. The incident, which has also raised security issues, happened when Singh visited the SreePadmanabhaswamyTemple last Saturday.
The day-long hartal called by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Kerala on Tuesday to protest murder of an activist in Kannur district disrupted normal life across the state.
'Is it not a fact that all good leaders in the Congress have left the party?'
In a change of stand, days after resenting police action against student editors over campus magazines containing remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said though the government respected freedom of expression, it was not proper to depict a person in any manner.
The Congress high command on Thursday approved the list of its candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Kerala retaining all but two sitting MPs, including Union Ministers Shashi Tharoor and K V Thomas, giving a head start to the party in the campaign against rival Left Democratic Front.
Distancing himself from the comments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the LDF's stand is not to personally attack Gandhi.
Intelligence inputs suggest that there is a meticulously-woven Maoist network in the jungle zones of Kerala
Kerala IT Secretary M Sivasankar was removed as Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, in the backdrop of the gold smuggling controversy, where the role of a former woman employee of the IT department is being probed.
A total of 71 people tested positive for rat fever in various hospitals in the state while 123 people approached hospitals with suspected symptoms of the disease.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's move to seek the resignation of vice-chancellors of nine universities has kicked up a huge political storm in the southern state with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday issuing a stern warning to the Constitutional head asking him not to cross the limits of his powers.
The exact number of passengers on board the passenger boat, said to be over three-decades old, at the time of the mishap is yet to be ascertained.
The RSS leader said he had not violated any customs and claimed that he ascended the 18 steps carrying the sacred offerings.
India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeared to have reservations about the Congress support to the 'liberation struggle' against Kerala's first Communist ministry led by E M S Namboodiripad, which was dismissed in 1959 within two years of coming to power.
Shah had launched the high profile 15-day yatra against the alleged 'red and jihadi terrorism' in Kerala.
The victim was working as a nurse in Zawia Medical centre AZ Zawiya, Libya. Her husband Vipin Kumar, who is a male nurse in Libya, was away on duty.
The raids, codenamed "Operation Kuberan", was ordered by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in the wake of public outrage at the suicide of five members of a family, allegedly after running into deep debt on account of high-interest loans obtained from a local money lending racket, known as "blade companies" in local parlance.
Sharmistha Mukherjee disapproved of his decision, saying he was giving the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories, as his 'speech will be forgotten' but the 'visuals will remain'.
In a stunning electoral victory, the ruling Communist Party if India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress-led United Democratic Front coming to power alternatively.
The organisers of the controversial 'Kiss of Love' event against moral policing have claimed that their Facebook page and accounts of at least 5 persons linked with it have been hacked.
Expressing resentment at party MP Shashi Tharoor praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress' Kerala unit on Wednesday decided to submit a report to the party high command seeking suitable action in the matter.
The government order, issued in this regard last evening, made it clear that the festivities should not be conducted during office hours.
The Kerala Congress-Mani led by former Kerala finance minister K M Mani on Sunday decided to withdraw its support to the Congress-led United Democratic Front coalition of which it was a part for more than three decades.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan rejected BJP's criticism against the resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at Kerala government, saying Vijayan should seek 'better legal advise'.
The hill shrine had been witnessing protests by devotees and right wing groups against the government's decision to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict, permitting women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.
Flaying both the Congress-led United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance and a section of the "right wing" media for trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their 'vicious propaganda' by giving the Left a decisive mandate.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the police to conduct a "robust" probe Following the incident at the Asianet News office.
Saseendran said his resignation should not be seen as an acceptance of guilt.
In a potential political setback for Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam chief Vellapally Natesan, the Kerala government on Saturday announced further investigation into the death of Swami Saswathikananda of Sivagiri Mutt, following a Crime Branch report citing new revelations in the case.
A day after the state government's intervention, the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that 'Metro man' E Sreedharan has been included in the list of dignitaries who will share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Kochi Metro inauguration on June 17.
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.
