Will the AIADMK acknowledge the role of CAA and the anti-CAA protests, both inside the state and outside, as among the causes for the current electoral reversal, as many in the party now want? It is unlikely to be so, but then the pressure will increase on the leadership to reassess the BJP alliance at one level and the 'blind support' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial policies on the other, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Did you not see it on TV?' 'He blessed Sasikala and comforted OPS.'
Post Jayalalithaa's death, the Tamil Nadu government is in confused state.
As a loyalist who would run to her with every little matter, he realises it is time he comes into his own.
The political stability that Tamil Nadu saw under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa may be a thing of the past, as the new administration struggles to find its feel, says R Rajagopalan.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa died in Chennai tonight at a private hospital after battling for life for the 75 days.
For now, Edappadi K Palaniswami is in the saddle in Tamil Nadu, and firmly so. Both inside the party and the government, he has made OPS a yes-man, as the latter used to be under Jayalalithaa, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK had decided to 'de-link' V K Sasikala and Dinakaran from the party.
He said whoever supported the Palaniswami rule cannot go to the people for votes.
'Let me stick my neck out and say that Tamil Nadu will keep alive its reputation for landslide election verdicts, with the DMK front winning at least 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Cassandras and Congressis may sneer at the findings, but the Times Now poll indicated that the Modi government was very much on its way to a second term.
The chief government whip on Thursday sought their disqualification for alleged anti-party activities.
In the video, the former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo is seen holding a glass and drinking from it, while reportedly watching TV.
The BJP's national leadership seems to have convinced itself that with a weakened, post-Jaya AIADMK for company, they should be able to strike roots before long, and start by winning about 10-15 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the presidential elections over, the time has come for Prime Minister Modi to show Tamil Nadu that the state's interests are safe under him, says R Rajagopalan.
Without a strong regional leadership the Aam Aadmi Party in Tamil Nadu may end up as just another political party in the statem says R. Ramasubramanian
She has been given the job to make candles and incense sticks.
From being compared to her 'elder sister' in every which way, to winning an election as a legislator, to awaiting the Supreme Court's verdict, the AIADMK leader has several challenges awaiting her.
'Nobody is telling you not to speak or learn your mother tongue. But making other languages an emotional issue is wrong.'
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders condoled the death of the seer.
"Various organisations and anti-social elements had infiltrated the pro-Jallikattu protests (at Marina) with the intention of diverting it," he said.
OPS is just now friendless in the party's second-line, but the situation could change as and when Governor Rao arrives in the state capital, and sets the constitutional ball rolling, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran sought to play down party's decision.
Emerging from a "consultative" meeting chaired by Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, Finance Minister D Jayakumar declared that the "unanimous" decision was taken in tune with the aspirations of the party cadres and people.
Executives feel political and other turmoil will hit plans, funds flow; govt says fears valid but will prove wrong.
Dinakaran recalled the difficulties faced by party workers in carrying forward their organisational work without a name.
But the question before the leadership will be whether to retain the BJP alliance or dump it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
One of the most charismatic figures of Tamil Nadu politics and the most enduring mascot of the Dravidian movement breathed his last at 6.10 pm.
In its first public protest, the O Panneerselvam-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam faction on Wednesday observed a day-long fast across Tamil Nadu demanding a probe into the death of J Jayalalithaa.
The BJP will be the obvious gainer while the DMK will lose a major chunk of its vote bank.
Panneerselvam said Amma's Poes Garden residence, where Sasikala now stays, should be declared a memorial.
The acquittal allows her to plan a new political path and also prepare her party for the assembly elections scheduled next year.
Modi hit out at the UPA government for allegedly 'blocking' surgical strikes post 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008.
Should the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu not make the required five out of 22 by-election seats, or even otherwise, the temptation to poach, especially from the Congress or starting with the Congress may be high on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami's agenda, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a relief to Jallikattu supporters, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the new legislation passed recently by the Tamil Nadu assembly but warned the state government not to allow commotion on the streets, reminding that law and order was its prime duty.
Protesters demanded a permanent solution for holding the sport and raised slogans that an ordinance was only a temporary measure.
Five months since her conviction by a Karnataka court and being forced to step down as Tamil Nadu CM, Jayalalithaa has not been out of her house. However, she continues to run the Tamil Nadu government with the help of a few retired bureaucrats reports R Ramasubramanian.
Thousands of people hailing 'Puratchi Thalaivi Amma' (Revolutionary Leader Amma) walked with the cortege.
'The prime minister's advisers might have told him that going along with this AIADMK government will damage his image.'
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