All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam cadres on Wednesday attacked and injured the husband of expelled Member of Parliament Sasikala Pushpa, who was accused of trying to create a law-and-order problem ahead of Thursday's General Council meeting to elect a new general secretary.
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.
Seen by political watchers as the favourite to retain power for a third straight term, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats, a goal aimed as much at projecting its strength as at diminishing the opposition in popular imagination.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Sunday flayed the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu for its advertising campaign listing its "achievements" on completing one year in office, saying it had spent a "huge amount" of people's money.
Panneerselvam indicated that he would support the move but laid down certain conditions, he said without divulging them. "I hope the two factions would sort out the differences soon," Annamalai said.
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 CM, along with Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, met the PM at his office in Parliament House.
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.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam led the strike against the Centre.
Even as the unity moves between the two AIADMK factions seem to be going nowhere, former chief minister O Panneerselvam is working on a grand alliance of other Opposition parties, reports R Rajagopalan.
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.
Whatever the circumstances the cadres will not let themselves be seen as challenging 'MGR's symbol'. It's an emotional identification for most of them, and many consider it an 'eternal sin' for them to defy 'Two Leaves', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK MLAs were on Wednesday suspended till Friday by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker R Avudaiyappan after they were evicted from the House en masse for creating rumpus over remarks made by a ruling DMK member.
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.
Panneerselvam's remark came a day after the two factions were squabbling and blaming each other for the delay in the talks getting off the ground.
Already, there is a feeling even within the BJP's AIADMK ally that the BJP is overdoing things on the ED/I-T front, as corruption is not an election issue in the state -- as long as the people are otherwise not excessively unhappy with the governing party, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The governor of a state has to act on the recommendation of the council of ministers, the Supreme Court said on Friday while dismissing an appeal challenging the decision of the Madras high court refusing to consider a petition against the continuance of V Senthil Balaji as a minister in the Tamil Nadu government despite his arrest.
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.
It has now asked Sasikala to either sign the response herself or by an authorised signatory who is in the commission's list of AIADMK office bearers and send it again by March 10.
'The others have been looting the people all these years. If you don't do that, you can do a lot for the people,' says Tamil star politician Vijayakanth.
Former Chief Minister Panneerselvam's decision was made in the wake of an appeal by the BJP to put up a common candidate to defeat the DMK backed Congress candidate in the election.
Partymen ignore the voices of dissent, Chinnamma set to be elected party chief unopposed.
The campaign will reach a high decibel level next week when BJP state chief K Annamalai is expected to take up a blitzkrieg campaign against the ruling DMK.
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.
The OPS camp believes Sasikala's family still calls the shot in the EPS camp.
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.
Visible symbols of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have undergone a dramatic change and on Thursday, the most dramatic of them all was seen when V K Sasikala was made the face of the party on the posters, replacing late J Jayalalithaa.
The ruling faction's announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his party's support.
The actor said the "clown's cap" was now being foisted on the head of Tamils and urged them to "erupt".
Pandian alleged that Jaya died under unnatural circumstances and demanded a probe on her hospitalisation.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was on Saturday shifted to a private room in a ward of Apollo Hospital in Chennai after she was admitted in the critical care unit on September 22.
Attempting to form a "secular and democratic alternative" to dethrone the Congress from power at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India on Sunday announced their decision to enter into an alliance ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.
'The symbol will come to EPS camp... there is no doubt about it.'
With no solution in sight for government formation in Tamil Nadu, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has asserted that a majority of its MLAs are behind General Secretary V K Sasikala
The travails due to enforcement of the eligibility test was because the AIADMK regime under K Palaniswami allowed the test to be conducted, despite DMK's efforts to keep it at bay, he said
Seeking to capitalise on the large number of non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties having "substantial support and strength in the country," the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday entered into an alliance in Tamil Nadu for Lok Sabha polls.
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.
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.
In a week from now, December 21, voters in R K Nagar in Chennai will decide who their MLA will be.
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
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