Agartala, June 27 : The ruling Left Front in Tripura on Saturday called for a 24-hour state wide shutdown on Monday in protest against the Central Government's decision to hike fuel prices.
In a press statement, the Left Front said that the shutdown was called by the Left Front committee, Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) and other organizations.
Left Front also described the decision as "anti-people and a cruel attack on people" and warned that it would lead to further inflation.
Meanwhile, Tripura's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Manik Dey said that the Central government's decision would affect the country's economy.
GUWAHATI, June 22 – Former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today accused Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of trying to blackmail the AGP to cover up the financial scam in NC Hills Autonomous Council and asserted that he and other members of the regional party would continue to fight in the interest of Assam.
Talking to mediapersons here today, Mahanta said that he had already requested the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to ensure that the CBI probe into the financial scam in NC Hills is free from any political interference. He claimed that he has evidence of telephonic conversation of Ministers regarding the scam. However, he refused to divulge the names of the Ministers.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s statement that the State Government would ask the CBI to reopen the case relating to the Letter of Credit (LoC) scam, Mahanta said that he is ready to face any probe into the activities of the Government during the AGP regime. “I have the moral courage to face any impartial probe,” he asserted.
However, at the same time, Mahanta said that the LoC scam started during the Congress regime and dared the Chief Minister to reopen the probe into the scam since the beginning. He said that the courts have already acquitted him of the charges regarding the LoC scam and the Chief Minister tried to adopt “blackmailing tactics” only because of the demand for an impartial probe into all the financial irregularities in NC Hills Autonomous Council. He demanded that there have been allegations of large-scale irregularities in Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the same should also be probed by the CBI.
Mahanta said that whenever Gogoi finds himself in trouble, he raises the issues like LoC scam or secret killings to divert the attention of the people to protect his chair. If Gogoi is really interested in reopening the cases relating to the LoC scam, why he waited for nine years to take such a decision, he questioned.
NEW DELHI, June 11 – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today slammed the Congress Government for its failure to resolve the crisis of essential commodities in Manipur, calling for immediate intervention of the Prime Minister to restore normalcy in the State.
Briefing newsmen, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadkar said that the situation in Manipur has become very grave because of the scarcity of essential food and medicine including life saving medicines.
The BJP demanded that the Prime Minister should immediately take stock of the prevailing situation in Manipur and take corrective measures to restore the supply lines.
The NH 39 has been closed for the last 57 days leading to crisis of essential commodities in the state. Prices of food items have touched the sky in the State.
The BJP claimed that it was because of the pressure of the opposition that the government acted and arranged that a convoy of 200 trucks carrying essential commodities reach Manipur. But a state that requires a daily supply of 300 trucks is still struggling for supply.
A BJP delegation had visited the State last month on a fact finding mission and had submitted memorandums to the Central Government including the Union Home Minister.
The BJP further wanted the Prime Minister to allay the apprehension among the people of Manipur created by continued presence of NSCN (I-M) leader Th. Muivah in a border village close to the State.
Shillong, June 10 (IANS) The opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Thursday walked out of the Meghalaya assembly to protest fresh encroachment of territory by Assam and the state government's response to it.
Shillong, June 10 (IANS) The opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Thursday walked out of the Meghalaya assembly to protest fresh encroachment of territory by Assam and the state government's response to it.
Even though Chief Minister Mukul Sangma made a statement on the issue, the NCP legislators were not satisfied with it and demanded a categorical statement on the issue.
Terming Sangma a 'weak' chief minister, Leader of Opposition Conrad Sangma told reporters outside that the people want categorical action from the chief minister on Assam's ongoing encroachment of Meghalaya's territory.
'So far the chief minister has only expressed deadly words but not deadly action on the issue,' the NCP said.
In his statement, the chief minister said that his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi admitted in June 5 meeting that the Assam government encroached at Psiar and Khatkasla areas in Meghalaya's Jaintia Hills district.
'We (Meghalaya) will not be a mere spectator to any move taken by Assam government unilaterally which is against the spirit of agreement arrived at the (June 5) chief ministerial level meeting,' he said.
'We will continue to monitor the ground situation regularly and police personnel are patrolling in those areas,' the chief minister said, referring to Assam's fresh encroachment in Jaintia Hills district.
On June 5, the two chief ministers had reached an agreement to maintain status quo in the disputed areas between the two states and not to allow fresh settlement in these areas. Any development work would be carried out by either government only after informing the other.
As soon as the chief minister completed his statement, Conrad Sangma asked him to make a categorical statement on the border dispute.
'The chief minister's statement gives no assurance to direct district administration to evict the Assam police from Khatkasla area in Jaintia Hills district,' he said.
However, Speaker Charles Pyngrope rejected the demand, saying that he would not allow any more discussion on the matter since the chief minister has already made his reply.
NEW DELHI: In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan has sought an end to the blockade of the highway to Manipur and a lasting solution to the problem by constructing alternative roads and connecting Imphal to Assam by rail.
The blockade of National Highway 39 for nearly two months has led to a severe shortage of food and other essentials in Manipur.
A section of Nagas is protesting the refusal of the Manipur government to allow the entry of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak- Muivah) leader Thuingaleng Muivah into the State.
Mr. Bardhan said the relief had turned out to be pittance due to the enormity of scarcity. All communities, Maities, Kukis, Paites and Nagas, were suffering as prices had shot up three times.
“All is known to the government at the Centre. Can anyone understand why the Centre under your leadership should pursue talks with the NSCN (I-M) without raising the issue of ending the blockade by students through the good offices of the NSCN (I-M) leader'' asked the CPI leader.
Nagpur | Monday, Jun 7 : RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today said the present threat from China is as serious as it was in 1962, when it attacked India with full force.
China had constructed a Railway line right up to India's border in the North-east, Mr Bhagwat said while addressing the concluding function of a month-long third year officers training camp (OTC) of the organisation at the historic Reshimbag ground here this evening. ''But India was still relying on mules to transport men and material to remote border posts, he said. ''It takes several days to travel by mules. Even helicopters cannot reach the forward border areas. The other side is well equipped, and yet, our government and our administrators are not bothered,'' Mr Bhagwat added.
The situation was just like it had been in 1962, when India swore by the principles of the 'Panchasheela' and remained unprepared, and China attacked with full preparation, taking the country's defence forces completely by surprise, Mr Bhagwat said without naming anyone. ''So bad was the situation in 1962 that our men did not even have warm clothing to wear when posted in the cold areas of the front. We had to provide them in a hurry,'' he said.
China was constructing several dams on the Bramhaputra river, which would cause serious damage in Assam and other states in the north-east, he pointed out.
The Sarsanchachalak said the presence of not less than 3.5 illegal immigrants in the country was an equally serious threat.
''The people in Arunachal Pradesh drove out 50,000 illegal immigrants from the country, but the Chief Minister of Assam resettled them in his state,'' Mr Bhagwat said.
Naxalism was another major threat to the country's security, and the menace was growing day by day, he said.
Victory for local centre-right party represents political 'paradigm shift' in West Bengal city after decades of leftwing rule
Jason Burke in New Delhi
TMC supporters celebrate victory in Kolkata, India. Photograph: Bikas Das/AP India's once powerful Communist party has suffered a massive blow with the confirmation today of the loss of Kolkata in municipal elections on Sunday.
Final results showed the Communist party of India (Marxist) had lost almost half of the 60 wards it had held in the eastern Indian city, long a bastion for the left.
The city's municipal council will now be run by Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress party (TMC). The party, which despite its name is locally based, describes itself as "centre-right" and has been able to attract tens of millions of voters disillusioned after decades of Communist rule.
Kolkata was the only major Indian city run by Communists and the elections, seen as a "semi-final" for state assembly polls in West Bengal next year, have heralded a political "paradigm shift", according to experts.
"I don't think the left in India can recover from this. They have lost three straight elections in West Bengal in a row – council, parliamentary and municipal – and seem sure to lose the state next year. The left in India appears in terminal decline," said Professor Subrata Mukherjee of Delhi University.
Indian newspapers ran banner headlines proclaiming "Storm Mamata hits Bengal" and "Trinamool onslaught storms the Red Fort".
Banerjee today demanded that the 2011 state elections be held early.
"It is a historic victory of the ma-mati-manush [mother, land and people]. I salute the people. They have given a verdict in favour of political change in the state," said Banerjee, who is currently railways minister at a national level and part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
Nationally the Communists still hold Kerala, the major southern state known for relatively high levels of development and literacy, and Tripura, a tiny state in the north-east. However, Mukherjee said the left was likely to lose Kerala too at elections next year.
The Communist party first took control of West Bengal during a major wave of leftwing agitation in India in the 1960s, but lost it to the ruling Congress party amid violent unrest in the early 1970s. Restored to power in 1977, the Communists have held West Bengal ever since.
Many factors united to ensure the Communist defeat both in the city as well as in municipalities across West Bengal last weekend. Muslim voters who had previously voted Communist appeared to have swung against the incumbents. Also, the unreconstructed rhetoric of many Marxist leaders has less appeal for a new generation of more materialistic Indian voters.
Professor Sabayasachi Basu Ray Chaudury, head of political science at Kolkata's Rabindra Bharati University, said that the TMC had successfully won over many of the state's "urban-educated elite".
"Without at least their partial support, this result would be unimaginable," he wrote in the Mail Today newspaper.
For Mukherjee, the Communists in India, who claim nearly a million members and continue to have a small but powerful presence in national politics, will be marginalised unless they can transform themselves into "a reasonable social democratic party".
