Tamil superstar Rajinikanth may have been wooed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and G K Vasan, who broke away from the Congress, but newly appointed Congress chief in Tamil Nadu E V K S Elangovan feels he should not enter politics.
Amid a major political row, former Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister Agri Krishnamurthy has been arrested in connection with the alleged suicide of a senior engineering department official S Muthukumarasamy but the opposition remained unimpressed and pressed for CBI probe.
'I expect normalcy to return in one or two days,' says Tuticorin's new Collector Sandeep Nandur.
His comments come a day after state Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar claimed that 111 MLAs had attended the meet convened by the chief minister.
The two rival factions of the AIADMK may have merged, but there are problems staring at it on all fronts -- governmental, political, electoral and organisational, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, on Thursday announced that it will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu and that it has begun talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states where by-elections were held two days ago.
The ongoing relief work in Chennai has been shadowed by charges in social media that All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers were nudging NGOs to paste stickers of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on relief material, a claim dismissed by the ruling party as "false".
Dinakaran has been re-inducted and elevated to the position of deputy general secretary.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
'What we see here is puppetry. The string is with the BJP.' 'All the puppets here are dancing to the direction the BJP pulls the strings.'
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam hugged Modi emotionally on a couple of occasions.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
P Balakrishna Reddy was sentenced Reddy to three years rigorous imprisonment in a two-decade old riot case related to a protest against illicit liquor in Hosur.
Counting of votes for the high stakes assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry began on Thursday morning with trends expected to be available by 11am.
While in the AIADMK office you could feel the vibes of victory, at OPS' house you could feel the struggle.
As political rivals clamour to retain their pan-Tamil credentials, the BJP may use the 'nationalist' card to even the odds in its favour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In one village, a woman asks, "They are always showing cash seizures on television, you think some of it will escape and we will get money as usual?" "Only 1 percent of cash is actually seized, the rest has arrived, you don't worry," a party worker assures her. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar reports on the election in the southern-most tip of the country.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday sought a direction from the Madras high court to quash the Election Commission's order, directing covering of pictures of leaves, which resembled the 'Two Leaves' symbol of her party ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam on small buses plying in the city.
"Since the central government had assisted in the treatment of Jayalalithaa, it has a responsibility to unravel the mystery surrounding her death... Therefore, using its authority, it should immediately order a CBI probe into the matter," he said.
And in the midst of it all, Jayalalithaa keeps the guessing game going, on her returning as chief minister and on calling for early assembly polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dinakaran recalled the difficulties faced by party workers in carrying forward their organisational work without a name.
Four police personnel -- a woman joint commissioner, two women constables and a sub-inspector -- were injured in stone-pelting, the police said, even as reports emerged that some protesters were also hurt.
Besides the SAD, the SP, the AIADMK and the TRS supported the idea; while the AAP, the TDP, the JD-S, the AIFB, the DMK, the TMC, the GFP and Left parties opposed it.
DMK working president M K Stalin led a protest in Chennai and sought promulgation of an ordinance to allow holding the sport.
AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa is all set to return as Tamil Nadu chief minister for the fifth time following her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case.
Barring one of the earliest surveys of the kind in the country, in 1989, none has proved right in Tamil Nadu's case, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Nobody is telling you not to speak or learn your mother tongue. But making other languages an emotional issue is wrong.'
There were mixed reactions from parties to Markandey Katju's charge that three ex-chief justices of India had compromised in giving extension and elevation to an additional judge of Madras high court at UPA government's instance, with some including All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam demanding a probe while others questioned the timing of his disclosure.
The assembly polls in the state have shown that the GenNext voters want change -- not necessarily of leaderships but of their behaviour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'There is no doubt that Sasikala wanted the transition to go this way.' 'The only thing the AIADMK MLAs want is to stay in power.'
Display of Jayalalithaa's portrait in the Republic Day tableaux in Chennai has stirred up a row
Ruckus over Telangana statehood issue and plight of Tamil fishermen disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha for the third consecutive day on Friday, leading to two adjournments before lunch.
Following is the course of events in the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and 2 others.
Dharmapuri district Child Welfare Officer J Raja Meenakshi has filed a complaint with the Chennai city police alleging that the minister demanded Rs 20 lakh to transfer her to Chennai.
'Whenever a new film of his releases, he uses politics to hype his film.' 'Her party can manage for a short period without Jayalalithaa as the chief minister but if her absence is for a long term, the AIADMK will start crumbling and disintegrating.' 'What keeps the DMK going despite its corrupt image is it is a democratic party in comparison to the AIADMK... Also, many social welfare measures in Tamil Nadu were brought in by the DMK. So they do have a place in the political scene despite corruption.' Gnani Sankaran, the well-known political analyst, discusses the fallout of Jayalalithaa's conviction on Tamil Nadu politics with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'Everybody knows Baalu and all the trouble he caused in UPA-I. The AIADMK thinks it can win with the distribution of money. It may work in some parts, but not everywhere.' Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits Tamil Nadu's rice bowl where a former Cabinet minister is fighting for political survival.
For the AIADMK's cadres, it is much more than an election symbol, they believe the party's electoral chances rest on owning it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jaya described herself as the people's "beloved sister" and sought a mandate bigger than the last one -- during the bye-poll post her acquittal in a disproportionate assets case by Karnataka high court.
In a resolution adopted in the assembly, the Jayalalithaa government sought diplomatic efforts by India to change any possible pro-Lanka stand adopted by America in the United Nation rights body.
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