The BJP calculates that simultaneous polls to Parliament and TN assembly could help it, intent as it is on making the state break from its Dravidian past, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With election campaign ending in Tamil Nadu before it goes to polls on Thursday, N Sathiya Moorthy lists a few questions uppermost in the minds of voters.
Coming as it does only months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Chennai meet could provide the launch pad for a national alternative to the BJP-NDA, and MK Stalin may be given the credit for getting it going, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
While the Rajya Sabha had exactly six years ago passed the Women's Reservation Bill, the legislation has since been pending in Lok Sabha.
Unpredictable polling in Tamil Nadu, and criminal cases stacked against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will be two key factors to be taken into consideration when the government is formed at the Centre, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The acquittal allows her to plan a new political path and also prepare her party for the assembly elections scheduled next year.
With the Apollo Hospitals chairman saying that she has recovered, the party can go back to business as usual.
In Tamil Nadu, Divya Nair encounters jallikattu, a ban on colas and a water shortage.
'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.'
Tamil Nadu has time and again proved that it needs a decisive leader even if corrupt, rather than an indecisive leader, however good-hearted, good-natured and honest he may be, writes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The AIADMK supremo retained 13 of her ministers, who were in the previous cabinet, besides inducting 17 new faces including four women.
Given Modi's penchant for springing a surprise, the BJP nominee for next President could be anyone. The only thing certain is that it will be an RSS person, reports R Rajagopalan.
Fighting heavy odds, J Jayalalithaa proved her detractors wrong again with her grit and determination as she steered the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to power for a second consecutive term, bucking the tradition since 1989 when no party has retained power in Tamil Nadu.
TTV Dinakaran's road to reaching the poll stage could still be strewn with legal difficulties, as much as political problems from other new players, like actors Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
For Stalin and the DMK, the declaration was the essence of the commencement of seat-sharing talks with the Congress, and even more, the launch of their combined campaign for the LS polls. That meant the DMK had to send out a message also to the 'minorities' in the state, who had deserted the DMK and very badly at that in the critical, post-Jaya R K Nagar assembly bypolls last year, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
A full one year after Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on the night of September 22, 2016, followed by long hospitalisation and death on December 5, Tamil Nadu continues to be rocked by instability and non-governance of every which kind, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Inaugurations and foundation-stone laying ceremonies might have been low-key but that doesn't mean Tamil Nadu stood still while J Jayalalithaa was out of office, Aditi Phadnis opines
A general election looms next month just as two cases involving Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa enter a crucial phase, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Calculated or otherwise, if Azhagiri's firing of the first salvo after Karunanidhi's death does not create some space for him to politico-electorally exploit at a later date, there may not be any space left for him at all, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
DMK Working President MK Stalin is worried about divisions in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after the death of Jayalalithaa and keen that it should not affect the functioning of the administration.
The speaker said she was ready to start the debate right away if the House agreed. The debate has been listed in Monday's list of business under Rule 193.
'If you are in Punjab, Modi is omnipresent as if he is going to be chief minister of Punjab.'
'If he is in Uttarakhand, he presents himself to be the chief minister of Uttarakhand.'
'When he is in UP, he is touted as the chief minister of UP.' 'There is a personality cult which is being built around a person... that he is the panacea of every democratic exercise in India, from panchayat to Parliament.' 'Modi at some point will pay the price for trying to build a very ambitious personality cult.'
Now that Tamil Nadu's tallest politician is no more, it remains to be seen how new political re-alignments could shape up, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Nine hundred and forty-seven people are said to have died in grief after J Jayalalithaa's demise on December 5. But how true is this claim?
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