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The five-day 23rd Congress of Communist Party of India held at Kollam, Kerala, from April 25, 2018 will be by generations to come for the historic decision of the Congress to take all measures to unite and consolidate the growing consensus among political parties as well as the general masses against RSS-BJP and also against Narendra Modi. It will also be remembered for the unity and political maturity of the delegates reflected clearly in all the debates, discussions and finally in the decisions taken both political and organisational. All the top leaders of Left parties who greeted the Congress too confirmed the urgent need to unite all secular, democratic forces to save the nation and people from the onslaughts of the communal, fascist forces in power at the Centre and in 15 states.

The arguments finally grind to a halt at 4.56 am and the three-judge bench of Justices Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan rule at around 5.30 am that the governor’s actions can be “injuncted against” but that his orders cannot be restrained. “Are the governor’s actions amenable?” asks the Supreme Court, and former attorney general Mukul Rohtagi, speaking for the Karnataka BJP, replies, “His actions are amenable, otherwise he’ll be Badshah!”

Rudy Giuliani, the newest addition to President Trump’s legal defense team, has added his voice to the list of Republicans demanding that Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrap up his investigations of the president and those around him, claiming, as did Vice President Pence last week, that there has been no finding of proof of “collusion” or “obstruction” and that the probe has “gone on long enough.”

Oil prices have started pinching as these touch the highs of some six years ago.

The Government of India order on cessation of army operations in Kashmir during Ramadan is a farce. Ramadan was never an addendum to peace throughout Islamic history. And security forces in Kashmir have been dealing with year-round no breaks in terror for decades. In 2014 their hands were untied. Now, almost four years to the so-called nationalistic BJP coming to power at the Centre, their hands have been tied again. Beats logic because the terrorists are on the run and shouldn’t be given the chance to regroup and attack.

By inviting the BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa to form the new Karnataka government despite his inability to prove majority support among the elected legislators, Governor Vajubhai Vala has acted like a RSS pracharak rather than a custodian of the Indian constitution. The most sordid aspect of this whole drama of government making is that the BJP leader initially talked of only two days for proving his majority but he was given a full fifteen days since the top BJP leadership was not sure of organizing the horse trading of the MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) within two days and they sought 15 days time to organize the affair. The Karnataka governor readily agreed to that like a party apparchik and allowed the sale of democracy in Karnataka for another two seeks.

There are no thoroughbred kudra in Karnataka politics today – stallion, mare or gelding. They are all of suspect breed, with a price and prize to command. Then, there are the horses for courses, tasked to identify the vulnerable horse to rustle from rival political stables – Sriramulu and the Galli Reddy bros of Bellary in the BJP, and ‘moneybag’ DK Shivakumar in the Congress camp.

In the run-up to the Karnataka assembly polls, with the State being one of the few largest producers of sugarcane in the country, the Union Cabinet approved financial assistance of Rs 5.50 per quintal (100 kg) for cane crushed by sugar mills in the extant 2017-18 sugar year (October-September) by way of production subsidy. The subvention is to be directly credited to the bank account of the cane growers, as they have not been the recipient of the “fair and remunerative price” (FRP) for sugarcane fixed by the Centre.

With daily worsening situation in the Kashmir Valley, the political parties including the partners of the ruling alliance have unanimously urged the Union government to declare ceasefire for the month of Ramadan and continue it till the end of Amarnath Yatra. They have cited the example of a similar ceasefire that was observed in 2000 when BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee was the prime minister.

The electoral battlefield in Karnataka is strewn with bodies, those of the dead and the wounded. Siddaramaiah has lost more than one arm. BS Yeddyurappa lost his cup of joy because there are these things called ‘slip’ and ‘lip’. Amit Shah lost his confidence. Rahul Gandhi his voice and PM Narendra Modi ‘face’.