Elections are due in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal that year. Early indications show Bengal holds promise for the BJP, but the party may have to recast itself to win Tamil Nadu.
Dinakaran had alleged on Friday that Panneerselvam met him in July last year and wanted to meet him again in September-end this year in a bid to "oust" Chief Minister M Palaniswami. He also claimed that Panneerselvam offered to make him the chief minister.
As the second phase of polling commenced on Thursday amid heightened security, bigwigs came out to cast their votes for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha. Among those who took to their respective polling booths were former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, BJP candidate from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.
'We say we are proud to be Indian. Can we be proud of such an India where its people are hungry and on the streets?'
Sandeep Gunnam on directing his first venture Kurradu.
The last time Tamil Nadu seriously voted on pre-poll promises was in faraway 1967.
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, commonly known as the hugging saint, was conferred an honorary doctorate in humane letters at a special ceremony by the State University of New York at its campus in Buffalo in upstate New York on Tuesday.
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Election Commission has directed covering the pictures of leaves, which resembled the Two Leaves symbol of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, on small buses plying in the city, but ruled that there was no need to interfere with the similar symbol at the entrance of the MGR Memorial in Chennai.
Get your low down on what's happening in the world of Malayalam cinema, right here!
'OPS did not back off.' 'He wanted transparency and he got it.'
Karunanidhi, 94, died at the Kauvery hospital on Tuesday following prolonged illness.
A tweet by O Panneerselvam, leader of the Puratchi Thalaivi faction of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, on a possible alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party after the declaration of civic polls kicked up a storm on Saturday.
For Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dig up the perceived past of the DMK rival, now under a new leader in M K Stalin, may not gel with the voters, both old and new. If they are still going to vote for the AIADMK-BJP combine, it will be for entirely different reasons, and despite Modi's poll speeches, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Meanwhile, a central intelligence estimate has put the toll at 30 besides four suicide attempts.
Producer-director Gunnam Gangaraju on his latest Telugu film starring Genelia and newcomer Arun.
Manwani said HUL was using technology across the value chain from manufacturing to distribution, marketing and advertising in its endeavour to be future-ready.
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.
'What the Sabarimala majority verdict has done is to elevate the principle of equality over all others, including the right to worship, and declared that this will be the litmus test of all practices, and re-emphasise that practices that are ultra vires will be junked,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
A recent Salem event was perhaps the first time many in the crowd were seeing Jayalalithaa in person in the past five years. A brief stint in jail had made her more reclusive. But none of that seemed to matter.
The participation of the two veteran actors assumes significance in view of their recent statements suggesting that they could be joining politics.
OPS said Jayalalithaa had turned the AIADMK into 'an iron fortress which cannot be shaken by anyone'.
Teja is among the 12 personalities from the Telugu film industry summoned by the SIT.
The hospital, where the AIADMK general secretary was admitted on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration, said she was "constantly being monitored".
Mariyadhai is full of stock situations and trite dialogues but can satisfy Vijaykanth's fans.
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.
The by-elections to 18 assembly constituencies will decide if the ruling AIADMK remains in power or not.
AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala said her thoughts will continue to remain with the party even from inside the jail.
"We will work together jointly as two hands of AIADMK in future for the people of Tamil Nadu. He asked for justice. I too ask the same," Deepa told reporters.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
Tamil Nadu's politics returns to being bi-polar, and that's a good thing, says B Srikumar.
From planting seedlings to holding feasts and shutting down 500 liquor shops, Tamil Nadu government is going all out to uphold Jayalalithaa's fame on her 69th birth anniversary.
Even though V K Sasikala's relatives may be calling the shots within the AIADMK and the Tamil Nadu government now, the 'Mannargudi clan' doesn't have a future in state politics, reports R Rajagopalan.
A senior political commentator has said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha is the modern 'Mahishasur Mardini' who has taken birth to trounce the Congress in Tamil Nadu.
As the year winds down and we start to look forward to the coming year, there are some personalities and events that shaped 2016 -- some struck the right chord whilst others triggered debates, controversies and set rumour mills churning. This year, we, at Rediff.com, have imagined our this year's newsmakers as movie stars and here's them as the stars of some of Hollywood and Bollywood's finest (in some cases, not really).
It's never to late to squeeze in a quick trip this month.
If the people of Tamil Nadu stop deifying their leaders and start evaluating them more objectively, the political masters too may change their wayward behaviour, argues Sudhir Bisht.
Pon Radhakrishnan also stated that Naxals, Maoists and Muslim extremists may have intruded into some of the media houses too.
'We are being told that to cushion our energy needs from the volatile oil market, we need nuclear power. That's hogwash: Our power sector is not dependent on oil.'
Twenty: 20, the mother of all multi-starrers comprising all the leading artists of Malayalam cinema, spreads an interesting smorgasbord.
