A number of leaders from Tamil Nadu, including 15 former MLAs and an ex-MP, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Wednesday as the ruling party looks to strengthen its presence in the southern state in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
For the first time since 1985, Tamil Nadu has voted in favour of an incumbent party which has been a shock to those in Anna Arivalayam -- the office of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Chennai.
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.
The DMK leadership may now have to deal with a demand for more seats from its Congress ally in the Lok Sabha polls, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa on Wednesday alleged that the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had indulged in various electoral malpractices to secure victory in the bye-elections to the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi assembly constituencies.
About 140 people out of 193 who were admitted to various government medical facilities after they consumed the spurious liquor on Tuesday night were currently stable, Kallakurichi district collector M S Prasanth said.
Alleging lack of intra-party democracy in the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, former union minister D Napoleon on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has set eyes on strengthening its presence in Tamil Nadu ahead of 2016 assembly elections.
The 65-year-old leader's ascent as the DMK chief heralds a new era in the Dravidian party, making him only the second man after his father to be elected as party president.
"The result of the RK Nagar bypoll is an outcome of the tacit understanding between DMK working president M K Stalin and Dinakaran," Panneerselvam and Palaniswami said in a joint statement on Sunday night.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa on Monday issued legal notices to three media organisations, including the DMK-backed Kalaignar TV, for carrying 'frivolous' reports linking her to Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan, accused of stashing black money abroad.
'We have to change the Dravidian influence on the people.'
In an unprecedented dismal show, M Karunanidhi-led Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Friday headed for a rout in Tamil Nadu as its arch rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was well set for a clean sweep, surging ahead in 35 seats out of 39 seats.
The 94-year-old leader is currently being treated for fever due to urinary tract infection with intravenous antibiotics and fluids.
The bickering between allies All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu over late Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai peaked on Monday with the regional party snapping ties with the saffron organisation, saying it cannot tolerate any affront to the late chief minister and its other leaders.
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.
Nachiappan, however, ruled out an alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, as it was a "replica of the Bharatiya Janata Party".
The Tamil Nadu Bishops Council's decision to support the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress alliance in the upcoming elections will vitiate the political atmosphere in the state, reports R Ramasubramanian.
It was decided by Tamil Nadu Congress to push for at least 45 seats and in a worst case scenario climb down a few seats and conclude the deal and it has worked out as was expected.
Joining issue with Narendra Modi over criticism of his party besides ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's comments will only earn him the wrath of people of Tamil Nadu but remained tightlipped on Rajnikanth's praise for the Gujarat chief minister.
V P Duraisamy's exit will in no way upset the poll scene in western Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi on Friday said Narendra Modi's invitation to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his swearing-in was "not acceptable and unwelcome" by Tamils all over the world and urged the BJP leader to drop the initiative.
The Congress secured the maximum of 48 seats.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday alleged that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was linked with the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in an "indirect way."
The BJP state unit hailed Vasan and said his advice will be used in the coming days to guide the alliance.
In the continuing crackdown by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, former Tamil Nadu Minister and senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Veerapandi Arumugam and his party MLA J Anbalagan were arrested on Saturday in different cases.
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.
The results will be announced on May 2.
Promising to espouse the cause of Tamils living the world over, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to press the Centre to take steps for conducting a referendum among Tamils in Lanka for their homeland and to appoint only Tamil envoys to nations which have a sizeable Diaspora.
A day after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced its decision to pull out of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the party said today that its ministers would submit their resignations on Monday.
DMK-led alliance captures Coimbatore, Tirupur
The party said though actor-turned-politician Vijaykant, who founded the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, speaks about people's problems, his economic policies were not known. The Pattali Makkal Katchi was also raising a lot of people's problems
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
In a one-horse race, ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by Jayalalithaa on Friday inflicted a crushing defeat on its arch-rival DMK, Congress and BJP-led six-party alliance, winning 4 seats and establishing unassailable leads in 33 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.
Kanimozhi, poet-daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi, and Tiruchi N Siva, a former Lok Sabha member, are the DMK nominees for the June 15 Rajya Sabha elections from Tamil Nadu.
Arjunan claimed that some persons belonging to the DMK in the guise of public abused him and his mother.
In the continuing crackdown by All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, former Transport Minister and senior Dravida Munetra Kazhagam leader K N Nehru and two others were arrested in Tiruchirappalli on Thursday, while another functionary was taken into custody in Coimbatore.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on the hit-list, not because the chief minister was unhappy with his performance, but because there were constant complaints from other ministers that he was sitting on their files far too long, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Sunday squarely blamed the Centre and the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam for the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and also the fishermen from the state.
Stalin is preparing the DMK to go the whole hog in making 'federalism', 'Tamil self-respect' and 'communal cohesiveness' the party's poll plank next year, and package the BJP and its possible allies, as 'divisive' and 'reactionary', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the acquittal of arch rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa coming as a reversal for it, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam top brass on Monday went into a huddle to work on a political and legal strategy following the development.
