The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is leading in a string of urban local bodies across Tamil Nadu as counting of votes began on Tuesday for the just concluded civic polls.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday staged an unprecedented walkout from the state assembly following a face-off with Chief Minister M K Stalin over the former's customary address to members of the house in its first session of the year.
Paying tribute to Tamil Nadu's former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on her birth anniversary, expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader VK Sasikala said that they (the AIADMK and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Katchi) should contest elections together.
In an audio clip of an phone conversation between Sasikala and one of the party cadres, which has gone viral on social media, the leader is heard confirming her plans of her return in the politics.
The power struggle in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, appears set to go on for a long time with sidelined leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) approaching the Election Commission and the influential Edappadi K Palaniswami camp refusing to budge.
Weeks ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, V K Sasikala, expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and close aide of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, on Wednesday announced that "she will stay away from politics," but would pray for the "golden rule" of the late party supremo.
Asking her to keep away from the party, senior party leader K P Munusamy asserted that under no circumstances could Sasikala enter the AIADMK.
"A stand was taken to seek his (Dhanapal's) removal based on the circumstances at that point of time. The party, however, now feels that the motion was not warranted," Stalin said on the opening day of the assembly session in Chennai.
Amid opposition to the Indian Premier League matches matches in Chennai in view of raging protests over the Cauvery issue, Tamil film star Rajinikanth said it would be good if the Twenty20 league's organisers stopped the games in the city as such a gala event would be embarrassing when entire Tamil Nadu was agitating.
Amusing spectacles unfold everyday with candidates attempting a variety of things from donning the role of a chef to washing clothes to woo voters, spicing up the campaign for the April 6 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.
Ayyakannu, who is also president of the National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association, said the decision to contest the polls from Uttar Pradesh was to urge the Bharatiya Janata Party to include in their manifesto that their demands, including "profitable prices for farm produce," would be fulfilled.
Claims over leadership became the focal point at the former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa's death anniversary event held in Chennai on Sunday with the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu, led by O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami, asserting that it is a 'fortress' that cannot be shaken by anyone.
Ahead of expelled leader Sasikala's return on February 8 to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday lodged a complaint with police against her camp alleging a 'conspiracy' to unleash 'violence' and sought action to ensure peace in the state.
Days after his outburst against AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, close aide Thanga Tamilselvan on Friday joined the DMK in the presence of its chief M K Stalin. He is the second top Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader after V Senthil Balaji to join the principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
Expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader V K Sasikala was set free on Wednesday by authorities after she completed four years imprisonment in a jail here in a case of disproportionate assets, setting off celebrations by her supporters in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
From being the third largest party in the outgoing Lok Sabha with 37 seats, the AIADMK has to now contend with single digit tally, pushed to the third spot behind arch rival DMK and Congress despite fighting the polls as part of a "mega alliance" with parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party.
V K Sasikala, who was eased out of the AIADMK years ago, on Saturday paid homage at the mausoleum of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa here and cryptically remarked that she has 'unburdened' herself and the party has a bright future.
Dinakaran had alleged on Friday that Panneerselvam met him in July last year and wanted to meet him again in September-end this year in a bid to "oust" Chief Minister M Palaniswami. He also claimed that Panneerselvam offered to make him the chief minister.
The Congress MP from Sivaganga also slammed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and said the people of Tamil Nadu do not want a government which has any "stain, scent or shadow" of the BJP as its 'Hindi-Hindutva' agenda "irritates" them.
Karunanidhi, 94, died at the Kauvery hospital on Tuesday following prolonged illness.
The big question is: Will her release be a threat to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami? The answer is, while it may give him moments of nervousness, he will not be replaced, say political experts. T E Narasimhan reports.
As the second phase of polling commenced on Thursday amid heightened security, bigwigs came out to cast their votes for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha. Among those who took to their respective polling booths were former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, BJP candidate from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.
Expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazahagm leader VK Sasikala on Tuesday arrived in Chennai, 23 hours after her departure from Bengaluru, where she had served a four year jail term in a corruption case and also underwent treatment for COVID-19.
'They are going to be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections which are six months away.' 'These people who are ruling Tamil Nadu know very well that they cannot win another election.'
Elections are due in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal that year. Early indications show Bengal holds promise for the BJP, but the party may have to recast itself to win Tamil Nadu.
'The BJP has become a reasonably larger force in Tamil Nadu in the last two years.'
V K Sasikala, late J Jayalalithaa's confidante would return to Tamil Nadu on February 7 from Bengaluru and a grand welcome from party cadres awaited her right from the state's border, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dinakaran said in Madurai on Wednesday.
The SC said if the high court does not dispose of the pending case regarding allocation of symbol within four weeks then the EC may proceed as per the March 9, 2018 order.
If not for Palaniswami, it is hard to guess if the AIADMK would have been able to garner 33.3 per cent vote share as against the DMK's 37.7 per cent. AIADMK won 66 seats, its allies Pattali Makkal Katchi and Bharatiya Janata Party five and four seats respectively and proved yet again that the western region was its fortress.
'The alliance led by the DMK is starting with 15% votes while the AIADMK is starting from scratch.' 'Minority votes may be crucial'
The DMK chief said it was a 'resounding victory' given to his party led alliance by the people of Tamil Nadu.
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
Pon Radhakrishnan is also a Union minister of state. His opponent is the richest candidate in Tamil Nadu.
Four police personnel -- a woman joint commissioner, two women constables and a sub-inspector -- were injured in stone-pelting, the police said, even as reports emerged that some protesters were also hurt.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala on Monday returned to Tamil Nadu to a grand reception, days after completing her four-year jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case, amid indications of a confrontation with the ruling party which she once controlled.
Panneerselvam had opposed the petition saying the whip was issued only to the 122 MLAs who were then camping in a resort and not his erstwhile group.
The DMK has performed well in the general election and will get more seats than its rival, the AIADMK, in the by-elections. But this victory won' help them, reports A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com.
TTV Dinakaran's road to reaching the poll stage could still be strewn with legal difficulties, as much as political problems from other new players, like actors Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
What happens when two former ministers go up against each other? No sparks fly, reports A Ganesh Nadar from the Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu, but it is the summer heat that has the last word on the campaign.
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