'More than 90 per cent of the party cadres are with OPS.'
She has been given the job to make candles and incense sticks.
Given the twin embarrassments of a TTV win and party nominee Karu Nagarajan losing his deposit, polling fewer votes than NOTA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP boss Amit Shah would be pushed to rethink their strategy. Tamil Nadu would thus become a part of the BJP's grander strategy for 2019 rather than a stand-alone affair, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states where by-elections were held two days ago.
'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.'
He also launched 70-lakh tree sapling planting drive to commemorate the 70th birth anniversary celebrations of late Jayalalithaa.
We (the AIADMK government) are going to implement the programmes initiated by Amma (Jayalalithaa) in our remaining term of four-and-a-half-years. "Now a stable government is in place in the state. You will see a new era of development to realise the dreams of Amma under the guidance of Chinnamma (Sasikala)," he said.
AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa will be sworn in for the fifth time as Tamil Nadu chief minister on Saturday along with 28 ministers.
There is also a catchy slogan coined for the occasion, by none other than Jayalalitha herself: 'Naalai Namadhe, Naarpadhum Namadhe'. Rendered in English it means, 'The future is ours, 40 is ours' (referring to the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puduchery combined).
Senthil Kumar on why he has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against V K Sasikala becoming Tamil Nadu chief minister.
The AIADMK MP from Thoothukudi explains why he is backing O Panneerselvam as Tamil Nadu chief minister.
Cries of "Amma" rent the air as a sea of humanity thronged the Rajaji Hall grounds on Tuesday to pay their last respects to AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, whose body lay in state in Chennai where normal life virtually came to a grinding halt.
Panneerselvam also wanted withdrawal of affidavits submitted to the Election Commission declaring Sasikala and Dinakaran as party general secretary and deputy general secretary, respectively.
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is likely to make her first public appearance on Friday for a scheduled MLAs meet in Chennai, party officials said.
A grim-faced Panneerselvam, who was also seen sporting a beard, was sworn in around 1.15 am by Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao at the Raj Bhavan amidst a scene of gloom.
The deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Friday afternoon.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the latest pilgrimage site in Chennai: J Jayalalitha's final resting place.
Now that an elected chief minister is at the helm, it is high time the Centre initiate discussions to appoint a full-time governor at the earliest, given that the state is set to face some challenging times, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jayalalithaa loyalist and Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Panneerselvam was chosen to be the next chief minister after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo was convicted and sent to jail for four years in a corruption case.
'The Centre is using Panneerselvam.' 'He is not known for standing up for his own rights, let alone for the state.' 'He spoke only after he saw huge protests against Sasikala; otherwise, he would have just complied and continued to walk down the aisle.'
'Jayalalithaa could not do what MGR did, and Sasikala will not be able to do what Jayalalithaa did.'
Facing the opposition benches, it is the 11th portrait to adorn the House.
For the AIADMK, winning the Srirangam by-election without Jayalalithaa campaigning for it, and having Panneerselvam as chief minister, is saying a lot in its favour. But again, a year and more is a long time in electoral politics in the country, and more so in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even as political parties in TN have decided not to field a candidate against CM Jayalalithaa in the assembly by-election, the BJP's ambivalence has shown up once again.
The win in UP is especially significant because UP assembly members carry the maximum value of votes in a Presidential election, given the fact that the state is India's most populous.
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.
In true Karnataka political style, which cuts across parties and loyalties, any reinstatement of Yeddiyurappa, even with adequate legislative majority, could trigger rebellion from within, which could embarrass the Modi-Shah duo than any other development elsewhere in the country, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jayalalithaa, who took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time, said if she would have been informed she would have instructed the officers in charge of the arrangements to provide a seat to Stalin in the first row, relaxing the norms in the Protocol Manual.
When M K Stalin attended the Jayalalithaa government's swearing-in and the chief minister thanked him for the gesture, a new page was turned in the state's political lexicon, reports B Srikumar.
On Tuesday night, the Tamil Nadu chief minister decides that enough is enough, and throws a challenge to Chinnamma.
Now that Tamil Nadu's tallest politician is no more, it remains to be seen how new political re-alignments could shape up, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
'Human trafficking from Bangladesh is a regular phenomenon and those people come here to work or in search of greener pastures. They are all over the country. We are giving them legal recognition and making them citizens so that they don't have to live in fear,' says R Nataraj, AIADMK MLA from Tamil Nadu.
The Central team will be on a three-day visit to the affected areas and its itinerary will be decided on its arrival in Chennai on Friday, he added.
If Tamil Nadu is to avoid a hung assembly, it is up to the silent voters, whose combined strength is more than that of the two major combines in the fray, says N Sathiyamoorthy.
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.
'The trust vote would have been closer had the DMK not been expelled,' O Panneerselvam tells A Ganesh Nadar at the launch of an e-learning portal in Jayalalithaa's name.
Sandhya Ravishankar describes the thorny relationship between the two political titans of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, both now part of the ages.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa is fit and healthy and has not shown any signs of 'a broken woman', a top jail official said.
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