Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
For a party that has adopted the successful social re-engineering model from Gujarat, Rajasthan and across the rest of the 'Hindi belt' over the past decades, Tamil Nadu continues to remain a tricky customer, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
R Rajagopalan predicts that Tamil Nadu won't have single party rule for the first time in its history.
'Every time they denied me a post, the Congress said that the high command doesn't approve of me.'
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 Congress protested vociferously both inside and outside Parliament on Monday against the political developments in Maharashtra as it stalled proceedings and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of "murdering democracy" in the state.
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.
AIADMK MLAs were on Wednesday suspended till Friday by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker R Avudaiyappan after they were evicted from the House en masse for creating rumpus over remarks made by a ruling DMK member.
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.
Should the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu not make the required five out of 22 by-election seats, or even otherwise, the temptation to poach, especially from the Congress or starting with the Congress may be high on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami's agenda, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
If there is unity in the Opposition, it is only about regional parties other than the DMK not wanting Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress leader for prime minister, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A political handshake between the Narendra Modi-led government and Jayalalithaa seems to be in the offing as the latter embarks on a crucial second term as Tamil Nadu chief minister.
The AIADMK bagged 134 seats as counting of votes was taken up for 232 of the 234 assembly constituencies. Polling in two constituencies has been postponed to May 23.
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.
Many leaders from non-Hindi states, especially Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, had opposed the policy.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday re-nominated sitting MP M Kanimozhi, daughter of party president M Karunanidhi as its candidate for the June 27 Rajya Sabha elections for six seats, hoping to drum up support from other parties to ensure a second term for her.
The lingering political drama in Tamil Nadu may see a denouement soon with Attorney General on Monday advising Governor C Vidyasar Rao to convene the assembly within in a week for a floor test to decide the fate of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rivals O Panneerselvam and V K Sasikala.
The Congress government in the Union Territory will have to prove its majority in the assembly on February 22 with Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday ordering the floor test, hours after assuming charge vowing to function in accordance with the Constitution.
When M K Stalin attended the Jayalalithaa government's swearing-in and the chief minister thanked him for the gesture, a new page was turned in the state's political lexicon, reports B Srikumar.
'Of equal importance was the AIADMK's precarious assembly membership, what with 11 of its MLAs including deputy chief minister OPS facing court cases for disqualification and by-elections due in another 21. To shore up the party's numbers for anticipated eventuality on the 11-MLAs' front, the AIADMK leadership in general and chief minister EPS in particular, were even more focussed on assembly seats than LS seats, just now,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
While in the AIADMK office you could feel the vibes of victory, at OPS' house you could feel the struggle.
'As the financier, she controls the party.'
The judiciary has often shied away from contesting the speaker's right or that of the legislature, but it has not always avoided taking a close look at the processes employed and arrive at conclusions that are binding on all concerned, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Referring to her remarks that her party MLAs and MPs voted on their own without any instructions from her, he asked what kind of action she proposed to take on them for acting without her advice.
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.
TTV Dhinakaran's call to the Congress to break up with the DMK and tie up with him, is aimed at consolidating the traditional anti-BJP votes. The stronger message is to all anti-BJP constituencies in the state, especially the minorities and traditionally aligned sections of the Dalit community, that he could be trusted to take forward an 'anti-Hindutva' agenda more seriously than anyone else, the DMK included, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
The fracas between Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on Monday over who will be projected as the CM candidate in next year's assembly polls not only points to a possibility of another vertical split in Tamil Nadu's ruling party but will also come as sweet music for the opposition DMK which in the past stood to gain from the AIADMK's squabbles, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the unanticipated floods across Tamil Nadu catching the unprepared administration unawares, Stalin finds that some of the early positives that had rubbed on his initiatives have been lost, observes 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.
With the presidential elections over, the time has come for Prime Minister Modi to show Tamil Nadu that the state's interests are safe under him, says R Rajagopalan.
Given the twin embarrassments of a TTV win and party nominee Karu Nagarajan losing his deposit, polling fewer votes than NOTA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP boss Amit Shah would be pushed to rethink their strategy. Tamil Nadu would thus become a part of the BJP's grander strategy for 2019 rather than a stand-alone affair, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
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.
Utter confusion prevails in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.
Venugopal is valued highly by Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi. They consider him a loyalist, more to the point, one who can deliver.
Bedi's order however drew flak from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislature wing leader A Anbalagan, who told reporters that Bedi was treading the path of 'autocracy' by issuing such directives.
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.
Dinakaran, who was expelled from the AIADMK in 2011, was re-inducted into the party last month by Sasikala after he expressed regret for his alleged anti-party activities.
AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala said her thoughts will continue to remain with the party even from inside the jail.
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