Dealing yet another blow to arch rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday won the Vandavasi and Tiruchendur assembly seats which went to by-polls on December 19. In the bitterly fought polls, DMK's Anitha R Radhakrishnan trounced AIADMK's T Narayanan by an impressive margin of over 46,000 votes in Tiruchendur, while his colleague Kamalakannan romped home in Vandavasi by over 38,000 votes.
First Information Reports have been filed against Dravida Munnetra Kazagham President M Karunanidhi and his son and party treasurer M K Stalin in connection with a clash between their supporters and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers in the wake of conviction of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the assets case.
The Congress on Thursday secured a seat in the present Bengal assembly as its candidate Bayron Biswas won the Sagardighi bypoll, defeating the nearest rival of the Trinamool Congress by 22,980 votes.
'This is the real purpose behind the arrest, and it is not about controlling corruption.' 'It is like taking Amit Shah into custody before the 2024 elections.' 'How will it affect the BJP's election machinery?'
The ruling AIADMK is leaving no stone unturned to win the Vellore Lok Sabha poll and push its tally to two in the state, with its candidate even donning the skull cap to woo minority votes. But the DMK's stars are clearly on the ascendant in the lone constituency that goes to the polls on August 5. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
A Ganesh Nadar reports on the Jayalalitha government's crackdown on land grabbing in Tamil Nadu. Many of the accused are DMK leaders, including former ministers and MLAs.
Capitalising on the boycott by main opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance on Friday expectedly swept the by-polls to five Tamil Nadu assembly seats, trouncing actor-politician Vijaykant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam by impressive margins.
The never-before performance, a clean sweep by the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa-headed party coming on a day when she completed three years in office, decimated her opponents, particularly arch-rival DMK, and put her in the driver's seat for the assembly polls due exactly two years from now
Ageing leadership, reckless family-oriented politics, absence of inner-party democracy, lack of debate on core issues within the party are all taking a very heavy toll on the original Dravidian party, says R Ramasubramanian.
Making clear its stand over the United Progressive Alliance's ambitious Food Security Bill, the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam on Sunday said it would support it only if it incorporated all the important amendments sought by various political parties and not in its present form.
Stalin, in an interview to a daily, has refuted the FM's allegations, saying "everyone present in the Assembly knew it was a drama enacted by herself," referring to the late Jayalalithaa.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
Besides Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who won from his native Tiruvarur by a huge margin of over 50,000 votes, other ministers who saved the embarrassment to DMK are his son M K Stalin (Kolathur), Durai Murugan (Katpadi), I Periyasamy (Athoor) E V Velu (Tiruvannamalai), Thangam Thennarasu (Tiruchuli), T P M Mohideen Khan (Palayamkottai) Suba Thangavelan (Tiruvadanai) and K Ramachandran (Coonoor).
Thursday's Opposition-sponsored bandh did not bring Tamil Nadu to a standstill.
In the continuing crackdown by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, a former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Legislative Assembly was on Tuesday arrested for his alleged role in a case. Ranganathan was arrested in Chennai based on a complaint, the police said.
The House had to be adjourned twice in the afternoon amid din over the issue and finally for the day, minutes after it reassembled at 3 pm.
The alliance captured civic bodies in Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Salem, and Tiruchirappalli.
The party also appealed to the cadres not to take any extreme step in view of the 94-year-old former chief minister's health.
But not for too long, as TTV Dinakaran can still play spoilsport, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former Tamil Nadu Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader N K K P Raja and four others were arrested in Erode on Thursday in connection with a land grabbing case.
Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the party accepts the verdict of the people of Tamil Nadu and congratulated All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa on her win in the elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party's southern ally Al India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday reiterated its stand against the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.
He also launched a strident attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was 'globe-trotting', afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday described the Congress-Dravida Munetra Kazhagam alliance for the May 16 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu as an "unholy" one while bringing up the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday alleged that use of money, muscle power and misuse of official machinery by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were responsible for the party's worst-ever performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, where it drew a blank.
A sum of Rs two crore was on Wednesday seized from the residence and other premises of a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate and his son at Karur, a senior electoral officer said.
With the assembly polls only two years away, in 2026, any demoralising defeat in 2024, would challenge not only the party's continued relevance but also EPS's leadership, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The action by the Commission, which wanted the explanation from the DMK president by Tuesday evening, came on a complaint from the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Information Technology wing. Tamil Nadu goes to polls on Monday.
ndependent of the political fallout, which Stalin has sought to arrest through the withdrawal of the measures as fast as they were introduced, there are concerns about the way those decisions came to be taken, without adequate application of mind, not in official terms but in political and electoral contexts, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Forty-two of the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the general election's first phase are constituencies that have three or more candidates facing criminal cases, according to a poll rights body.
The BJP and the AIADMK are unable to sort out ideological differences, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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
The favourable apex court was a result of the 'divinity' of party stalwarts, the late Chief Ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, he said at a mass wedding ceremony in Madurai.
A Raja, the former telecom minister who stepped down from his post in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam, does not appear in the list of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders who will campaign from 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly elections. This list was finalised on Thursday by DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
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.
The Congress on Monday announced its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would continue for Lok Sabha polls, setting at rest speculation about the future of the tie-up in the wake of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's overture to the lead United Progressive Alliance party.
Stalin, along with senior leader K N Nehru began the fast at 9 am at Uzhavar Sandhai grounds.
To celebrate his coronation as AIADMK general secretary on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 -- Madras High Court Justice K Kumaresh Babu rejected interim applications by O Paneerselvam and his supporters seeking stay on the general secretary polls -- Edappadi K Palaniswami went all MGR.
Congress candidate Elangovan secured 1,10,156 votes (64.58 per cent), which is 20.29 per cent more than the 2021 assembly election as the then INC candidate secured 66,300 votes and won the seat.
