Why was everyone wooing Vijayakanth and why was he playing hard to get?
Coming as it does only months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Chennai meet could provide the launch pad for a national alternative to the BJP-NDA, and MK Stalin may be given the credit for getting it going, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In Tamil Nadu, Divya Nair encounters jallikattu, a ban on colas and a water shortage.
If either faction of the AIADMK failed to muster a floor majority, then the governor would be called upon to ask MK Stalin as the leader of the opposition if he would like to try his hand at government formation.
'The BJP doesn't have to do anything except nudge the AIADMK in one direction.'
'One thing is clear from what happened last night; both sides are being manipulated by the same party with a lot of wrong inputs.' 'I see a hand in Delhi doing the puppet act on both sides.'
On Tuesday night, the Tamil Nadu chief minister decides that enough is enough, and throws a challenge to Chinnamma.
The state government held talks with the protesting youth to sort out the matter.
'Appointed, sponsored and nurtured' by Jayalalithaa, P Rama Mohana Rao is now seen as a man who holds the key to the secrets of ministers and bureaucrats.
A meeting presided over by Palaniswami said the appointment of Dinakaran as deputy general secretary was against party rules.
The AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu doesn't really want to antagonize Karnataka in any way that could have any sort of bearing on the case against party chief Jayalalithaa. However, it is under pressure back home over backing a farmers' bandh call against check dams being proposed by the neighbouring state.
The AIADMK supremo retained 13 of her ministers, who were in the previous cabinet, besides inducting 17 new faces including four women.
However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Three way split of AIADMK has slowed decision-making, prompting industry to look outside the state, says T E Narasimhan.
The lingering political drama in Tamil Nadu may see a denouement soon with Attorney General on Monday advising Governor C Vidyasar Rao to convene the assembly within in a week for a floor test to decide the fate of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rivals O Panneerselvam and V K Sasikala.
The party's Lok Sabha MPs Jaisingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee (Tuticorin), Senguttuvan (Vellore) and R P Marutharaja (Perambalur) extended their support to Pannerselvam.
Madusudanan had been removed from all posts besides the primary membership for going against the party principles and bringing disrepute to it, she said in a statement in Chennai.
The apex court's decision, which was handed down in eight minutes, has dashed any hopes for the Jayalalithaa aide to become CM.
TTV Dhinakaran's call to the Congress to break up with the DMK and tie up with him, is aimed at consolidating the traditional anti-BJP votes. The stronger message is to all anti-BJP constituencies in the state, especially the minorities and traditionally aligned sections of the Dalit community, that he could be trusted to take forward an 'anti-Hindutva' agenda more seriously than anyone else, the DMK included, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
Palaniswami and Paneerselvam joined to oust Dinakaran and EC cancelled R K Nagar by-election.
The threat to Sasikala won't come from the Tamil Nadu chief minister or New Delhi, but from her 20-plus kin, reports R Rajagopalan.
Today, as Jayalalithaa's friend, advisor and 'sister' Sasikala is also lodged in Bangalore Central jail, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister is where she was before: alone, all alone
With DMK's M K Stalin coming into his own, and the rival AIADMK too leaving no space for third parties, Tamil Nadu will remain a Dravidian stronghold for a long time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the circumstances, an independent probe alone would establish the truth, starting from Koodangulam. It is more so in the case of Marina violence, which may even at this late hour hold a candle to the events and developments in Thoothukudi, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa was acquitted on Monday by the Karnataka high court in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case, a verdict that is sure to put her back in the Tamil Nadu chief minister's seat.
'He was doing so well as the CM, which some vested interests didn't like.' 'They didn't like his stature growing day by day.'
The CM thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support to Jallikattu, an emotive issue which triggered mass protests across the state.
Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced on Friday morning that the state government will amend a central act on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to allow the conduct of Jallikattu in the state with the Centre's backing, and urged protestors across the state to withdraw their agitation following the likelihood of the bull-taming sport to be held in a "day or two."
Post-Jayalalithaa AIADMK cannot take on the Narendra Modi dispensation like their late charismatic leader did it on several occasions in the past, says R Ramasubramanian.
Contest on their own and get washed out, as happened in the 2016 assembly elections? Or contest in league with one of the Dravidian majors and get submerged under its election symbol? With elections looming, minor political parties in Tamil Nadu are caught in this dilemma, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Nine hundred and forty-seven people are said to have died in grief after J Jayalalithaa's demise on December 5. But how true is this claim?
The campaign has gathered steam for the June 27 bypoll contest in Tamil Nadu featuring Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers are going all out to ensure her victory against the lone Communist Party of India challenger.
Inaugurations and foundation-stone laying ceremonies might have been low-key but that doesn't mean Tamil Nadu stood still while J Jayalalithaa was out of office, Aditi Phadnis opines
'What we see here is puppetry. The string is with the BJP.' 'All the puppets here are dancing to the direction the BJP pulls the strings.'
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah on Friday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and invited All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa to form the new government.
A full one year after Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on the night of September 22, 2016, followed by long hospitalisation and death on December 5, Tamil Nadu continues to be rocked by instability and non-governance of every which kind, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
62 candidates vye for Amma's mantle in the Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly by-poll in Tamil Nadu, but who will fortune favour?
The ruling party's decision to serve 'disqualification' notice to three party MLAs when polling for four more assembly by-elections are due for May 19 may have been taken to keep the flock together post-results, rather than seek to lose more than already, but it has sent out alarming signals in a state ruled till recently by an Iron Lady, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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