The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Congress veteran H Vasantha Kumar last year due to COVID-19.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, with strong roots in the RSS and BJP, has been elected as the 15th Vice President of India. His rich political and administrative experience will be valuable as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
BJP legislator Nainar Nagendran will become the next state chief of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, succeeding K Annamalai, who is set for a national role. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is in the city to review the party's functioning, praised Annamalai's work. Nagendran, the lone contestant, is the current state vice president and was formerly with the AIADMK. He is expected to be officially announced as the new state president soon.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has refuted claims made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin regarding fund allocation and delimitation, accusing him of spreading misinformation and engaging in diversionary tactics. Shah asserted that the Modi government has provided significant financial support to Tamil Nadu and denied claims of any reduction in Parliamentary representation for the state following delimitation. He also criticized the DMK government's handling of law and order, citing issues such as drug trafficking and corruption. Shah expressed confidence in the BJP's prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections, predicting a larger victory than in Maharashtra and Haryana.
In a state that usually plumbs for a Dravidian major, three candidates have a chance of delivering for the BJP, observes A Ganesh Nadar.
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP often forgets that in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, the voter does not mix religion, which is personal, and politics that is in the public sphere, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pon Radhakrishnan is also a Union minister of state. His opponent is the richest candidate in Tamil Nadu.
Is the unusually and unbearably scorching Sun and the general laxity, bordering on laziness, among voters, responsible, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
A proposal to withdraw the bill was moved by Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan and was approved by the House
The cyber crime division have booked the BJP state unit chief under sections of inciting violence and promoting enmity between groups among others.
Nishank's clarification, through a tweet in Tamil, comes in the backdrop of opposition to NEP in Tamil Nadu on the grounds that the policy allegedly imposed Hindi and Sanskrit.
The DMK's Stalin, TN Minister D Jayakumar, the BJP's Pon Radhakrishnan... A clutch from the political class pay tribute to T N Seshan on his last journey. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday objected to the presence of JKLF president Yasin Malik at a pro-Tamil Eeelam meeting by the Naam Tamizhar Katchi at Cuddalore in Chennai on Saturday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday denied allegations of some pro-Tamil leaders, including Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko that party leader Sushma Swaraj had invited Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for an official event in Madhya Pradesh on September 21.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit on Thursday said Ram Setu should not be "affected at any cost" and demanded that the multi-million crore rupees Sethusamudram project be implemented without demolishing the structure.
AIADMK insiders see the very idea of an NDA conclave as a measure of the BJP's current electoral assessment, stemming from relative weakness in 2024 compared to 2014 and 2019. In their reckoning, the BJP now needs allies more than the other way round, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit chief L Murugan was on Friday detained at Tiruttani near Chennai by the police when he tried to embark on a statewide 'Vel Yatra', defying a ban.
The hospital's Chief Operating Officer Subbiah Viswanathan said in a short press release that respiratory support "is being closely watched and adjusted."
From the voter-level, traditionally anti-BJP, anti-Hindutva minorities and other secular voters would have an option, especially in the face of the mounting anti-incumbency against the ruling party -- as it happened in the 2001 assembly polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Centre has zeroed in on Kovalam village in Kanyakumari district for a new port, but fishermen's protests could derail this plan.
'Last night someone threw stones at my house at 11 pm. My car was also smashed.'
India has been ranked at a lowly 120 among the 122 countries where there is poor quality of drinking water, says a development report of the United Nations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader made the comments in response to questions by reporters on Wednesday amid the raging #MeToo storm which has demolished the carefully cultivated reputations of many distinguished personalities in the field of media and entertainment industry including celebrated journalist M J Akbar.
Vellore is one of the two seats that the DMK alliance won by the narrowest of margins in 2019. For the DMK's vote-score to be so low in a constituency with a substantial Muslim population has not missed the BJP strategists' eyes, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Launching his "Vetri Kodi Eandhi Tamizhagam Velvom" (Will Win Tamil Nadu Carrying the flag of victory) campaign from Suseendiram in this district, Shah said he was confident that a coalition government of the NDA will come to power in the state after the April 6 assembly polls.
A webportal has been launched with information concerning toll plazas on national highways and expressways
AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam is said to be upset at his son Raveendranath Kumar, a Lok Sabha MP, being denied a ministerial chance for a second time in a row, beginning with the formation of Modi 2.0 in 2019, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa was on Saturday sworn in for the fifth time as chief minister of Tamil Nadu amid celebrations by party cadres and supporters all over the state.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the site for former President Kalam's memorial.
Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also listed in the memorandum.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Sunday were set to share the honours in the Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections in 13 states.
The chief minister also put forth the demand to stop hydrocarbon extraction project in Neduvasal in Pudukkottai district that has attracted large-scale protests recently.
It does not stop here, though. According to field information, state ministers, AIADMK candidates and campaigners are asking BJP cadres accompanying them not to carry party flags at common rallies and also avoid their saffron shawl on those occasions. BJP cadres are also asked to stay out of the common campaign when it enters a minority-dominated areas, especially of Muslims, and re-join later, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Supporters of the bull taming sport Jalikattu on Tuesday staged protests in Tamil Nadu after SC stayed the Centre's notification lifting the ban on it.
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.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday lauded his arch political rival -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa -- for her decision to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Five fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka for alleged drug trafficking but set free after President Mahinda Rajapaksa pardoned them, arrived in Chennai on Friday.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, on Thursday announced that it will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu and that it has begun talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The farmers, who have been staging a protest for the past 41 days demanding a Rs-40,000 crore drought relief package, farm loan waiver and setting up of the Cauvery Management Board by the Centre
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