Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam led the strike against the Centre.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi, his son M K Stalin. and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam chief Vijayakanth spent far less than the limit set by the Election Commission for poll-related expenses during the April 13 assembly elections.
Days after sending feelers to the Communist Party of India-Marxist and CPI which had quit the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday said no talks had been held with them so far and declined to commit on the number of seats they would be offered if they joined the Democratic Progressive Alliance.
Karthik Thondaiman defeated his nearest rival Jahir Hussain of the DMDK, ensuring yet another cakewalk for the Jayalalithaa-led party which had earlier won Tiruchirappalli (West) and Sankarankoil bypolls held in 2011 and early this year since coming to power over a year ago. Thondaiman romped home by a margin of 71,000 votes over Hussain, with the result increasing the AIADMK's tally in the 234-member assembly to 150
The election for six Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu is turning into a high-impact zone.
By aligning with the BJP, even if they were arm-twisted into doing so, the AIADMK leadership has yielded their political space in the state to the aunt-nephew duo of Sasikala-Dinakaran, and the parliamentary election to the DMK-Congress combine, says A Ganesh Nadar.
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
The Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement had met both Chief Minister Palaniswami and Stalin to seek their intervention in lifting the ban on toddy-tapping and had submitted petitions, but there it remained. So the matter is being taken to the people's court.
'Tamil Nadu is a state of temples, it's a holy land. People don't seem to realise that.'
We (the AIADMK government) are going to implement the programmes initiated by Amma (Jayalalithaa) in our remaining term of four-and-a-half-years. "Now a stable government is in place in the state. You will see a new era of development to realise the dreams of Amma under the guidance of Chinnamma (Sasikala)," he said.
Ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's arch rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and main opposition party in the state Assembly Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam are finally set to fight it out to bag the sixth seat in the June 27 biennial elections for the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.
Sandhya Ravishankar describes the thorny relationship between the two political titans of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, both now part of the ages.
"Our traditional stand has been that we have never supported any country-specific resolution at the UNHCHR," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha as DMK, AIADMK and CPI members rushed to the Well raising slogans on the issue.
Amid strains in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's first family over leadership squabbles, party chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday issued a veiled warning to his Madurai-based son M K Alagiri, saying those who went against party diktat would be expelled.
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief T T V Dinakaran on Wednesday said he tried his best to persuade his aunt V K Sasikala from 'stepping aside' from politics.
According to reports, Vijayakant was caught on camera assaulting Dharmapuri candidate Bhaskar during a rally. Bhaskar apparently tried to correct him after he misspelt his name.
Police later let the legislators off after a brief detention at a marriage hall. Stalin demanded the dismissal of the AIADMK government over the issue of the alleged pay-offs.
The Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam government on Thursday underlined its determination to act against land grab cases, in which connection many DMK functionaries have been jailed, assuring victims their "lost property" would be reclaimed.
Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday slammed Left parties for reportedly trying to project Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as a candidate for the prime minister's post, saying that the move "is nothing but opportunistic slavery".
Leaders of various opposition parties on Sunday demanded that issues of price rise, 'Agnipath' scheme as well as the alleged misuse of investigative agencies be taken up in Parliament and also raised objections to the list of 'unparliamentary words' at an all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon Session.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the latest pilgrimage site in Chennai: J Jayalalitha's final resting place.
After an initial close fight, AINRC managed to win only eight seats, including the Indira Nagar constituency by party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
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.
M Karunanidhi was a masterful practitioner of modern-day politics, wielding considerable influence beyond his own state, in the corridors of power in New Delhi, for a long time and sewing up alliances with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has bagged a Mayor's post and is leading in all ten corporations including Chennai as counting of votes polled during the two-phased Tamil Nadu civic polls on October 17 and 19 was taken up on Friday.
The cocktail of corruption and nepotism has sunk the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam coalition in Tamil Nadu, senior Rajya Sabha leader Dr V Maitreyan tells rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
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.
The April 13 Assembly polls in the Union Territory of Puducherry is shaping up to be a face-off between two fronts -- the ruling Congress-DMK combine and the oppositon All India NR Congress- All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance.
With the Election Commission keeping a hawk's eye on affairs, the usually flamboyant campaigning for Tamil Nadu polls has turned somewhat colourless, finds A Ganesh Nadar
Sasikala said that she was looking for an "explanation" why Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao refused to give her an audience despite many requests.
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.
While the crowds outside the AIADMK HQ seem to have taken victory for granted, a small crowd out the DMK HQ refuses to concede. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports from Chennai.
For now, the BJP's strategy for Khushbu seems to be one of denial -- denying the rival Congress in the state and also at the national-level a Muslim voice acceptable to Hindu audiences and TV news-watchers. This is much less than the induction of DMK veterans like Duraiswamy and Selvam, who still have a greater chances of winning assembly seats,, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala also lashed out at the Congress, her party's arch rival Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam, and the Bharatiya Janata Party over failure to conduct the sport.
There is a political vacuum emerging in Tamil Nadu, but can the Superstar, the state's biggest phenomenon since the late MGR, take advantage of it? Does he have what it takes to enter politics, or is he merely ensuring headlines ahead of his film's release, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Will the AIADMK acknowledge the role of CAA and the anti-CAA protests, both inside the state and outside, as among the causes for the current electoral reversal, as many in the party now want? It is unlikely to be so, but then the pressure will increase on the leadership to reassess the BJP alliance at one level and the 'blind support' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial policies on the other, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Riding on an anti-incumbency wave, Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam front on Friday stormed to power handing a crushing defeat to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress combine in Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
Despite drawing a blank in Tamil Nadu, its leaders in the state claimed they should strike roots without using a crutch at this "most opportune" time, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
In the next two years, reveals says R Rajagopalan, Modi-Shah will make a strong effort to woo the south.
