THE CPI(M) Telangana state committee has declared candidates for 3 Lok Sabha seats and 17 assembly constituencies. Md Afroze Samina, former chairperson of Khammam municipality and AIDWA central committee member is the Party’s candidate for Khammam Lok Sabha constituency. Nandyala Narsimha Reddy, CPI(M) Nalgonda district committee secretary is the candidate for Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency and Cherupally Sitaramulu, CPI(M) state secretariat member and former MLC is the Party candidate for Bhuvanagiri Lok Sabha constituency.
A huge public meeting was organised in Sabhawala village in Vikasnagar area on March 31, in support of the CPI(M) candidate from Tehri constituency, Shiv Prasad Deoli.
WHILE the Maharashtra state committee of the CPI(M) had initially decided to contest three Lok Sabha seats in the state, it later decided to fight a fourth one as well. This is the constituency of Hingoli which is spread over parts of the Vidarbha region (Yavatmal district) and Marathwada region (Nanded and Hingoli districts). Brief introductory notes on the CPI(M) nominees in these four seats follow.
Brinda Karat said that health, education, transport sectors are being privatised and a very large number of poor people are becoming indebted due to expensive treatment in private hospitals. Thousands of posts in government services are lying vacant. She blamed the Hooda government for destroying jobs on the one hand while claiming credit for reservation for a particular community on the other.
ACCUSING the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of going soft on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), G Ramakrishnan, Tamilnadu state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has questioned why the two parties, during their election campaigns, had been refraining from criticising the BJP and Narendra Modi.
TEA belt in northern Bengal has suffered unbearable pains for the last three years. Tea gardens have been closed without any effort from the state administration to reopen them. Starvation deaths have become regular phenomena in those gardens. Large numbers of tea workers are suffering from acute diseases with health facilities declining. Moreover, the owners are having a field day as the state administration has reversed its position and has now sided with them.
THE streets of Caracas and other cities in Venezuela were flooded with common people who had come out to solemnly observe the first death anniversary of Hugo Chavez on March 5. The small minority opposed to his legacy continued with its violent protests in scattered upper middle class areas of Caracas and a few cities. The presidents of Cuba and Bolivia, Raul Castro and Evo Morales respectively, had flown to Caracas to be personally present on the occasion of the late leader’s first death anniversary.
THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has condemned the decision of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to revalidate the field trials for ten varieties of genetically modified (GM) food crops as well as other crops in a hasty manner despite serious concerns expressed by wide sections. This decision is a bonanza given on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections to the Indian and multinational agribusinesses, and reeks of corrupt intentions. It is undemocratic and in violation of the Election Commission’s guidelines as well.
THE General Elections for the 16th Lok Sabha is going to be held in the background of a crisis in the economy and the society as a fallout of the vigorous pursuit of neo-liberal policies by the successive governments at the centre, particularly those led by both the Congress and the BJP.