Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A new entrant, whether a popular actor or not, has not been able to sweep the polls, as their fans had hoped for. Given a proven pattern, it should hold true for Vijay as well. Or, something drastically has to happen between now and 2026, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Indications are that the DMK combine will win more seats than the AIADMK and BJP, but is facing a tough fight in about half a dozen from the rest, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy of the electoral contest in Tamil Nadu.
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.
The Erode East assembly by-poll suddenly turned the spotlight on Bharatiya Janata Party with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam factions led by K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam rushing to Kamalalayam -- BJP state headquarters in Chennai -- seeking the saffron party's support for their respective parties.
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.
The JD-U has five members in the Rajya Sabha, including deputy chairman Harivansh whose fate now hangs in the balance as he may have to resign since his party has moved out of the ruling alliance.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Tamil Nadu's obsession for honorifics appears to be a never-ending story. The latest is the "Ezhuchi Nayagan" (rising leader) title for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's new interim general secretary K Palaniswami, proposed by the party's presidium chairman Tamil Magan Hussain in Chennai on Monday.
Naidu informed the House that he had received letters from Singh and 13 other MPs seeking leave of absence on medical grounds.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss and his son, former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, in connection with the murder of a relative of Tamil Nadu minister for Commercial taxes C Ve Shanmugam, sources said.
The governor has returned the bill, adopted by the state assembly in September 2021 and the report of a high level committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government in this connection to the assembly Speaker M Appavu.
Under the deal, the PMK will be supporting the AIADMK in the bypolls expected to 21 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, he said.
A revolution in the country's health system is firmly under way, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss tells Sreelatha Menon.
The protesting doctors displayed placards that read "Ramadoss Get Well Soon" and held bouquets of red roses.
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.
EPS' real test will commence with a decision whether or not to patch up with OPS and on what terms -- and then, to decide whether or not to have the BJP for an electoral ally, come 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A girl who appeared for NEET and aspired to pursue medical education died by suicide at a village in Ariyalur District, the second such death within two days in Tamil Nadu, with the incident seeing a repeat of the main opposition AIADMK hitting out at the DMK regime, while chief minister M K Stalin on Tuesday vowed to continue the legal fight to remove the test.
A Delhi court on Tuesday cancelled its bailable warrants against former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss after he appeared before it in a corruption case, involving grant of allegedly illegal permission by him to a medical college to admit students.
Former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and eight others, accused in a corruption case relating to the grant of illegal permission to a medical college to admit students, were on Saturday granted bail by a Delhi court.
A Delhi court on Friday directed Central Bureau of Investigation to file its reply by August 4 on the bail pleas of former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and eight others accused in a corruption case related to a medical college scam.
Former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, charge-sheeted for allegedly granting illegal permission to a medical college for admitting students, was on Saturday issued bailable warrant by a Delhi court for "intentionally avoiding" its summons and failing to appear before it.
A Delhi court on Saturday issued a bailable warrant against former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss after he failed to appear before it in a case of allegedly allowing a medical college to go ahead with admissions without having sufficient resources.
Some fans had staged protests against fringe outfits opposing his political entry.
The nearly two month-long grueling campaigning in peak summer for the May 16 Tamil Nadu assembly election that is witnessing a multi-cornered contest comes to an end on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu, the land of regional parties where the two Dravidian outfits have ruled the roost for long, is witnessing a few fledgling parties testing their electoral luck for the first time in the April 24 Lok Sabha elections, including Aam Aadmi Party and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi.
The Health Minister had recently written to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry seeking action against companies like Bagpiper soda, Johnny Walker soda and Kingfisher mineral water, saying they were using surrogate methods of advertising, which needed to be stopped.
Has the superstar started smoking on screen to show off his trademark tossing of the cigarette once again?
"From October 2, the government would introduce the no smoking policy in all indoor establishments," Ramadoss told reporters in Bangalore on the sidelines of a function.
The smoking ban, a pet project of the health minister, was put into effect from October 2 and covered almost all public places, including hotels, restaurants, pubs, offices and international airports. While a majority of states were enthusiastic about implementing the ban, few like Maharashtra and Bihar showed reluctance in doing so.
On tap to keynote the 26th annual Convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Originarguably the largest and most influential ethnic professional organization in the United Statesin Las Vegas next week, is Indian Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, who AAPI leaders say has confirmed he will attend despite rumors to the contrary because of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's austerity drive discouraging his ministers from foreign travel.
Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Saturday that the mandated pictorial warning on cigarette and beedi packets will come into effect from December 1.
"The prime minister has directed the two ministers to sit together and discuss the matter and sort out differences," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the cabinet meeting. He said the cabinet deferred a decision on the issue which was being argued before the court
The government is currently working on formulating the guidelines for supervising conducting clinical trials in the country and soon it would come up with the details in this regard, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said. Phase I clinical trials are the first stage of test of safety and efficacy of new drugs on humans after passing trials on animals.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday sought to ignore Union Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss' suggestion that he give up the cigarette by refusing to react to it."No comment," was all Bhattacharjee, a heavy smoker, told reporters when asked for his reaction to the minister's suggestion.Ramadoss had sent letters to all state governments, asking them to make the workplace smoke free by October 2.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi said on Sunday that it has decided to snap ties with the front led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa.All was not well in AIADMK-led front after Jayalalithaa recently gave permission to her party MLA C V Shanmugam to file a case in a court seeking to direct the police to include PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and his son and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in a murder case.
Ramadoss stressed the need for raising the level of bio-security in poultry holdings by commitment and financial investments from the government, private sector and commercial firms.
A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and H S Bedi upheld the appeal filed by Venugopal challenging the impugned law as being discriminatory and malafidely brought to superannuate him. Venugopal had contended that the amendment was brought with the sole purpose of removing him from his office due to his differences with Ramadoss.
