The last session of Parliament started off on a noisy note as pro and anti-Telangana MPs sparred with each other on the floor of the two houses.
'The BJP knows only one language, intimidation!'
Putting up a spirited performance in the assembly by-polls despite its Lok Sabha debacle, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu has won nine of the 22 segments where elections were held in two phases in April and May.
While followers of both Palaniswami (EPS) and Panneerselvam (OPS) were engaged in backroom negotiations to mobilise the support of party functionaries for their respective leaders, parleys continued as well to resolve the bickering well ahead of the June 23 General Council meeting.
'With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami's side.' 'There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent,' says R Rajagopalan.
It would be good if all political parties understood the advantages, he said.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers on Sunday organised poojas in temples and took out processions praying for a favourable judgement.
The BJP is still short of the halfway mark of 123 in the 245-member House, but can now muster a 'working' majority with help of allies, friendly parties, some Independents and nominated members.
Without a strong regional leadership the Aam Aadmi Party in Tamil Nadu may end up as just another political party in the statem says R. Ramasubramanian
Rajya Sabha was adjourned barely six minutes after the House met.
What happens when two former ministers go up against each other? No sparks fly, reports A Ganesh Nadar from the Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu, but it is the summer heat that has the last word on the campaign.
Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive working on Tuesday as Opposition members created pandemonium on a host of issues including JPC report on 2G, Telangana, price rise and death of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) riot victims.
The power struggle in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, appears set to go on for a long time with sidelined leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) approaching the Election Commission and the influential Edappadi K Palaniswami camp refusing to budge.
The Congress president addressing women students at the Stella Maris College said that the law must apply to everybody and not be applied selectively.
Keeping their eyes on the assembly elections, the BJP has been trying to win favour with the southern regional parties, observes R Rajagopalan
The numbers, however, appear to be in favour of the ruling dispensation to get these bills passed from Rajya Sabha, while the lower house has already cleared them despite a key NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal vehemently opposing them.
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.
Unless Governor Ravi or the Union of India moves in appeal, seeking a hearing by a constitutional Bench, this is where it all will have to end, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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
Incidentally, Pannerselvam's call for unity also pertained to deposed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran.
Assuming office for the sixth time as chief minister, Jayalalithaa began a new chapter in her chequered political career.
The infighting in the AIADMK has made it weak on par with the DMK and other parties, says R Rajagopalan.
'We are not opposed to any Indian language. We are against Hindi imposition.'
According to a document by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the average number of years a case against a member of Parliament or a member of Legislative Assembly is pending is seven years. Vicky Nanjappa reports
If the DMK is able to sustain the momentum until the assembly polls, the AIADMK especially and the PMK and possibly the infant TVK too would find it hard to sign up with the BJP, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Kamal Haasan always appeared to be quick to strike, but afraid to wound.' 'What he is offering the people of Tamil Nadu is not clear, but whatever it is, it will be a fresh element in the state's politics,' says Aditi Phadnis.
The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party went into a huddle on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of the party forming the government at the Centre and changes in the organisation ahead of counting of votes on May 16.
Exhorting her supporters to ensure a "complete win" for the party so that the United Progressive Alliance could be ousted from the Centre, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday said her party would fight the next Lok Sabha polls on the plank of peace, prosperity and progress.
Bowing to opposition pressure, the government has agreed to refer the controversial Insurance Bill to a Select Committee of Parliament, which will have 15 members.
The BJP and its allies now rule over 70 per cent of the country's population, marking an unprecedented saffron footprint.
The AIADMK propaganda secretary also claimed "Panneerselvam is instable." State minister C Ve Shanmugam called Panneerselvam "a betrayer".
Pushing efforts to firm up a Third Front, top leaders of the Janata Dal-United, Left and the Janta Dal-Secular met in New Delhi on Monday and decided to convene a meeting of 11 parties after the end of the current Parliament session to give concrete shape to a non-Congress and non-BJP alternative.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is ready for a discussion on the issue of alleged financial irregularities in the banking sector and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will reply to the debate.
Vijayakanth said the decision to snap ties with the AIADMK was taken following a unanimous view reached at a consultative meeting with party's district secretaries in Chennai.
K N Balagopal (Communist Party of India -Marxist) said the Congress and the BJP were acting as A-Team and B-Team and not allowing the House to discuss the bills.
A suitable non-Congress candidate from a regional party could help influence even some of the NDA allies like the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal-United to vote for a consensus Opposition candidate, reports Archis Mohan.
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
Cash collections accounted for a whopping 63 per cent of total funds or over Rs 2,100 crore garnered by various political parties during all state assembly polls between 2004 and 2015, a study showed on Monday.
Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.
Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani are also likely to join the second Modi government after being its members in its first avatar.
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