Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has always played a key role in defusing tensions with the Left, were also present at the crucial meeting.
When contacted, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury and Communist Party of India national secretary D Raja declined immediate comment, saying they could raise the matter in Parliament.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri said india favours a democratic setup for Nepal.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) charged the United Progressive Alliance government with making a "wrong diagnosis" of the causes behind price rise and said the steps announced to control inflation would in fact stifle the high growth rate.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will remain West Bengal's Chief Minister, laying to rest speculation that he would be replaced.
Senior Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the party has started discussions on the third alternative and any party that wants to be part of it must: 1. Uncompromisingly oppose communal forces. 2. Oppose the anti-people economic reforms. 3. Oppose all efforts to try to make India a subordinate ally to United States' imperialism.
CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury has outsourced the planning of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme in West Bengal to IIM-A students. Students will be involved closely with the constituency's role in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 4-5 students will work on this project and will be guided by faculty advisors. This project will enable students to understand the working of government and public policy.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat have been keeping a low profile, but their interest for the presidential nomination has been debated upon by the media.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta asked the government on Monday to reduce the tax burden on petroleum products and clubbed their consumption in the country.
After its drubbing in West Bengal in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the state unit of CPI-M today began a two-day meeting to analyse reasons behind its poor performance in the Left Front-ruled state.
"Our party will contest 16 seats. We appeal to all secular parties to support us. Elsewhere, we will support the strongest secular candidate against the BJP," party Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said.
With the aim of opposing the India-United States nuclear agreement, the Communist Party of India - Marxist is trying to form a third front without the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, senior party leader Sitaram Yechuri said on Sunday. Addressing a public meeting, Yechuri also requested other parties to join this front.
Choosing the next Dalai Lama is too profound a tradition to be controlled by the Communists in Beijing.
A major controversy erupted on Wednesday over MPs writing to US President Barack Obama seeking denial of visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with some MPs denying having signed it.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, had a fifteen minute meeting with Karat at the CPI-M headquarters on Thursday morning.
Contending that the Left has the right to express its views, he said, "I am hopeful the deal will come through and if not, it will be unfortunate for the country." To a question, he also said, "Anyway, we all are preparing for elections."
To a question about stability of the government, he said, "Our agenda is the nuclear deal and the implications of the Hyde act on national sovereignty and interest."
Opposition leaders urged Modi to use the opportunity for the country's benefit.
Yechury briefed the prime minister about the deliberations of the CPI-M's central committee and the position taken by the party.
CPM general-secretary Prakash Karat had said that the government would have to face serious consequences if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.
Ahead of the meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on nuclear issues on Tuesday, the CPM on Monday made it clear that it would not allow the government to proceed on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the Left parties are in favour of the much-delayed Women's Reservation Bill and maintained that it should be introduced in Parliament in its original form. He said parties like RJD and SP are opposed to the bill, as they have certain issues related to it. However, he said, these could be discussed in Parliament through amendments also.
The delegation met Nepalese Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala.
"The WPI is not a true reflection of the burden put on the people through the rise in prices of essential commodities. It is a misnomer to use it as an index for measuring inflation," party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters. Quoting the oft-repeated phrase 'statistics, more statistics and damned lies', he said the weightage of the basket of food items to calculate the WPI was 22 per cent as against that of steel products which was 25 per cent.
Pakistan represents 'strategic depth' in Mullah Omar's war with the US, then a staging camp for the conquest of India.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Politburo members Sitaram Yechury, S Ramachandran Pillai and R Umanath are expected to attend the meeting on Saturday.
On the sidelines of the high political drama on the elusive consensus among the UPA constituents on the presidential candidate, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury quietly managed to break the three-day strike by the employees of Indian.
The country's premier B-school is all set to help MPs in effectively spend their grants so that maximum number of people can reap benefits. A group of students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has taken up a project to study the spendings and suggest changes for the Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) grant given each year to parliamentarians under the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.
The CPI-M said that it would pull down the government if it 'falters' on foreign policy and 'succumbs' to US pressure. "If it falters, we will pull down the government. We cannot afford to be drawn into the strategic tie-ups. We will not permit the government to succumb to the US pressure," party leader Sitaram Yechury said.
'Only when we show magnanimity and grace, give them the required respect and space, will they show the willingness to listen to us wholeheartedly,' says\nNCP leader Devi Prasad Tripathi.
Congress sources said the party will first discuss its choice of the Presidential nominee within the UPA and then consult the Left parties.
The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury, recommended that caution should be taken to retain the original glory of the Taj which is turning yellow day by day.
In a bid to enter the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo members Sitaram Yechuri and Brinda Karat on Monday filed their nominations for the upcoming election to the Upper House.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Friday could be the last day before the government summons a fresh session in December, we want fresh session so we could bring no confidence motion against the government," Yechury said.
Left parties and BJP launched an attack on the government on Tuesday over its move to open up retail trading to foreign direct investment saying this would shrink employment opportunities.
Sitaram Yechury, politburo member of CPM, on Friday warned the government against market volatility and FII activity.
The Left parties have given notices of breach of privilege against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in both Houses of Parliament on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal.
Government will hold consultations with leaders of the left parties, allies of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, on the issue of petroleum product prices even as Petroleum minister Murli Deora disfavoured increasing LPG and kerosene prices.
Since the formation of the CPI-M, following a split in the Communist Party of India in 1964, the party never drew a blank in the state in Lok Sabha elections.
