'Sasikala definitely has an emotional advantage over the others, but there are very seasoned politicians with a strong support base.' 'For the time being, they may toe her line.'
No one at this point no one in the state is talking about a clean sweep with high victory margins that the AIADMK front won in the 2011 assembly elections. The 'Modi factor', as against a 'Modi wave', has ensured as much, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Last night someone threw stones at my house at 11 pm. My car was also smashed.'
M K Stalin might not have his father's charisma, but he has learnt the ropes the long, hard way, says T E Narasimhan
'The people of Tamil Nadu are fed up of these people, whether it is Panneerselvam or Palaniswami.'
Rediff.com takes a look at record-setting wins in Indian politics.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam might have been pushed into a corner to come up with a prohibition policy of its own, if only to create the right atmosphere for talking about an Opposition coalition in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy
The AIADMK swept the polls winning 37 of the 39 seats, leaving DMK, its rivals, and the BJP to do a serious rethinking before the assembly elections in 2016, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Amid furore created by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members in Parliament for the second day running, the government on Tuesday admitted that a Supreme Court collegium during the United Progressive Alliance rule had recommended extension of a judge in Tamil Nadu who was under corruption cloud.
'Brand Kejriwal-AAP have a long way to go even if they win another Delhi election...'
'It is a force nobody can ignore, not even Mr Modi, because it will keep punching above its weight,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Cracking the whip on the dissidents, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam headed by actor Vijaykant has suspended seven of its legislators, who did not vote for the party's nominee in the recent Rajya Sabha biennial polls, for alleged anti-party activities, party sources said on Saturday.
Soon after the Karnataka high court denied bail for Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam on Tuesday appealed to people not to resort to strike or any other form of protest to express solidarity with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief as she would not like to cause inconvenience to the common man.
The two Houses would now meet on December 27 as there would be no sitting on December 24 and December 26 in view of Christmas.
With Tamil Nadu's electoral fate decided, all eyes would now veer round to the pending 'disproportionate assets case' against Jayalalithaa in the Supreme Court, and Stalin's own future within the DMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
There were unconfirmed reports that the AIADMK would even parade the MLAs before the President.
This is perhaps for the first time the CBI raided a serving police chief of a state.
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.
The political stability that Tamil Nadu saw under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa may be a thing of the past, as the new administration struggles to find its feel, says R Rajagopalan.
More than 50 students supported the cause by participating in this fest late on Sunday night. Earlier on May 27, Students' Federation of India staged similar protest in Kerala by eating beef outside University College, Trivandrum.
Sasikala's declaration of staying away from politics does not necessarily have to mean that she was retiring for good. She is only taking time to evaluate the post-poll chances of hers before digging in again, if possible, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The 2015 RK Nagar bypoll, in which Jayalalithaa was elected by a huge margin of 1.5 lakh votes, had witnessed a record 75% turnout
Calling herself a "dear sister" of the people, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo said that her thoughts constantly revolved around them.
Attempting to form a "secular and democratic alternative" to dethrone the Congress from power at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India on Sunday announced their decision to enter into an alliance ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Utter confusion prevails in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.
Will the 2016 assembly election be Stalin's to lead the DMK in?
Even as political parties in TN have decided not to field a candidate against CM Jayalalithaa in the assembly by-election, the BJP's ambivalence has shown up once again.
About 200 employees were detained across the state in connection with incidents related to strike
The apex court, in a plethora of verdicts, has given varying judicial opinions on Speakers' powers ranging from refusing to intervene in the matter to assuming the role of the Speaker itself and going to the extent of disqualifying lawmakers under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's leader's plea seeking removal of a public prosecutor from representing state in the Karnataka high court, which recently reserved verdict on an appeal of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case.
The Palaniswami camp on Friday got a jolt when one of its MLAs R Natraj, a former state DGP, said that he would vote against the chief minister's motion of confidence.
Rajinikanth said he stood by his comments made on Periyar, maintaining that they were factual and refused to apologise as demanded by fringe Dravidian outfits. DMK chief advised him to exercise caution while expressing views on Periyar.
A day before the crucial trust vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar checks out the mood in the AIADMK hq.
The None of the Above option, like previous polls, had few takers in the assembly elections to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
Soundararajan is heard telling the student and the people who gathered at the lounge that a plane was no place to raise slogans.
Having burnt his fingers with MGR very badly in the past and later with Vaiko, it suited the DMK chief, when disgruntled cadres upset with Stalin's choice for lower-rung party positions, began gravitating towards another member of the DMK's 'first family', says N Sathiya Moorthy
Purohit eventually cleared them only after obtaining legal opinion from the state Advocate General.
Insiders in AIADMK headquarters confirmed that Jayalalitha, now 67, has been unwell for the past two months and undergoing medical treatment in her home in Chennai. Of course, she attends office for three hours every morning, and also took the oath of affirmation as a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly last week.
'As she has been sentenced to 4 years in prison, her disqualification period begins after that for 6 years, totaling the next 10 years of her life, which may indicate that her legislative career in politics is over for the time being.'
They expressed joy on Jayalalithaa being acquitted in the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka high court on Monday.
