The AIADMK bagged 134 seats as counting of votes was taken up for 232 of the 234 assembly constituencies. Polling in two constituencies has been postponed to May 23.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy delivered the verdict on Monday morning, which allowed the EPS faction to hold the GC meet, the supreme decision making body of the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
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.
The continuing exodus has left the party short of leaders, especially those credited with "excellent" organisational skills. The local strongmen, who switched sides, are reaping rich rewards in DMK.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Tuesday evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu assembly after they disrupted the proceedings by raising slogans to demand the passage of a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. Speaker R Avudaiyappan ordered the eviction following a request from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who said raising slogans inside the House was 'uncultured'.
The ruling faction's announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his party's support.
MLAs from the Opposition AIADMK were suspended for the rest of the monsoon session when they created a ruckus in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday. The MLAs shouted slogans and created chaotic scenes when Tamil Nadu local administration minister M K Stalin's raised a privilege issue in the state assembly against AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. Stalin's speech was hardly audible as AIADMK members kept on shouting slogans and creating chaotic scenes.
'The BJP knows only one language, intimidation!'
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday said it has arrested Jaffer Sadiq, a Tamil Nadu-based alleged dealer of narcotics, in connection with an international drugs trafficking investigation case.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The opposition has been protesting over various issues, including the Punjab National Bank scam, since Monday when Parliament had reconvened after a month-long recess in the Budget session.
The BJP-led NDA now has nearly 100 members in the 245-member House. If the support of friendly parties like the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (9), Biju Janata Dal (9), Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (6), and several allied nominated members and smaller parties is counted, then the Modi government is unlikely to face any serious numerical challenge there.
As the merger brought to an end weeks of suspense during which there was tough negotiations, the two factions said steps would be taken to expel party chief V K Sasikala.
Vijayakanth was unwell for quite some time and his wife Premalatha took over the reins of the party days ago.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bonds scheme and termed it an important step in ensuring transparency in electoral funding.
AIADMK members on Tuesday disrupted proceedings in both houses of Parliament demanding action on former union minister P Chidambaram's son Karti on the Aircel-Maxis issue.
Opposition repeatedly sought a reply from the PM on the issue.
It is a sea of men clad in veshtis with distinctive party colour border design seeking votes with a smile and folded hands for their party candidates. The town is abuzz, with electioneering at its peak, and teeming trendy cars criss-cross the busy roads and bylanes bringing in more and more leaders from elsewhere for campaign.
In a week from now, December 21, voters in R K Nagar in Chennai will decide who their MLA will be.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices R Subhash Reddy and A S took note of the submission of the main opposition party of the state that speaker has not been taking any decision on the MLAs for last three years and issued notices to him, assembly secretary and 11 lawmakers including O Panneerselvam.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal appear to be unwilling to have seats in Lok Sabha along with Congress which has the largest number of seats in the non-governmental side.
AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala also lashed out at the Congress, her party's arch rival Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam, and the Bharatiya Janata Party over failure to conduct the sport.
While the Raj Bhavan had on Thursday night said it placed the unprecedented 'dismissal' order on hold, the DMK regime asserted it would pick an appropriate action plan to counter and fight the move against the minister by Ravi, even though he backtracked from it.
Will Vijay will go the most successful MGR/Jayalalithaa way, or that of Vijayakanth, Seeman or Kamalahaasan, or will he end up as another Rajinikanth who cries wolf at the last minute and quits the scene even before it all had really begun, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
A Supreme Court vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh noted that the petition was still pending in the high court and asked the ED to approach that court.
There may be those who could want to go slow, citing the large pendency of follow-up action and court cases that they would have to process and/or proceed with, before raiding more politicians, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
OPS said he was being "forced" to come up with such an announcement.
The AIADMK is convinced that the BJP will remain an electoral burden for a long time to come, beginning the Lok Sabha polls next year, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
The issue of alleged misuse of office by Shipping and Road Transport Minister T R Baalu rocked proceedings in both Houses of Parliament on Monday.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The satta market is accepting bets on how many times Modiji will mention Nehru at his election rallies, says A Ganesh Nadar with a wink.
'Sometimes we use political pressure and sometimes political acumen to get what we want.'
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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