Several opposition members, including from the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, also pointed out that the government took almost two months to impose the lockdown after the first case came to light in January, and claimed the delay had proved costly.
Congress' chances of survival in the state do not look promising, says Aditi Phadnis
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
The Central team will be on a three-day visit to the affected areas and its itinerary will be decided on its arrival in Chennai on Friday, he added.
The government on Monday ruled out any terror or "external aggression" link to the communal violence in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that there will be no repeat of 1990 when Pandits were forced to leave KashmirValley.
Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PM's name.
Leaders from different political parties raised the issue of the gruesome murder and rape of a veterinary doctor in Telangana in Parliament on Monday.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
Display of Jayalalithaa's portrait in the Republic Day tableaux in Chennai has stirred up a row
The infighting in the AIADMK has made it weak on par with the DMK and other parties, says R Rajagopalan.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
Dinakaran has been re-inducted and elevated to the position of deputy general secretary.
Azad said electoral laws make it clear that the ruling party should have no advantage during elections and both the Opposition and the ruling side should be on an equal footing.
The results will be declared on July 20 in New Delhi.
The Jaya-Jaitley meeting poses more questions than answers -- and not just for the Tamil Nadu BJP.
One of the most charismatic figures of Tamil Nadu politics and the most enduring mascot of the Dravidian movement breathed his last at 6.10 pm.
The government will soon issue guidelines for regulation of OTT (over the top) platforms that will address issues such as sensitive content, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
After an unsavoury courtroom battle, his party won to secure for him the final resting place at the Chennai landmark
The answer seems to be 'yes' since party veterans themselves are questioning the move in the backdrop of the April 24 Lok Sabha polls, even as their hopes of a possible tie-up with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam seem to have dashed with its chief M Karunanidhi virtually shutting the door despite extending an olive branch.
Kanimozhi told reporters that the Palaniswami-led government has become 'bloodthirsty' and the chief minister should be held responsible for the incident.
V Narayanasamy was on Monday sworn in as the tenth chief minister of Puducherry.
Amid the raging controversy over a conversion bid by some Sangh Parivar outfits, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that such incidents would not derail the party-led National Democratic Alliance government from its development agenda.
She faced intense and protracted struggle to eventually head the AIADMK.
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.
The Rajiv Gandhi assassination, investigation and trial were all jinxed in parts, recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
This time round, even 'petrol coupons' were reportedly distributed for those attending campaign rallies, especially those addressed by top leaders, cutting across party lines. If this owed to the rising cost of petrol and diesel -- which is a poll issue this time -- there were the customary coupons for 'quarter' (liquor bottle size) and non-vegetarian biryani. Some media reports claimed that some of these 'crowds' attended more than one political rally on the same day in the last week, and at times for rival political parties in adjoining constituencies or districts, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Panneerselvam said Sasikala is only a 'temporary general secretary' and proper elections have to be held to elect new party chief.
'It may take the AIADMK much more convincing than already, not only to try and bring around even the one-time Muslim voters of the party. 'More importantly, the party leadership may find it even more difficult to convince traditional party voters and cadres, who had admired Jaya's nonchalance to the party and leader ruling the Centre,' says 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.
The meeting between the two leaders lasted about 20 minutes.
The fear that Mamata might snatch the mantle of Opposition leadership which the Gandhis firmly believe to be theirs by birthright seems to have persuaded Sonia and Rahul to give up their hoity-toity ways, observes Virendra Kapoor.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
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.
They also demanded that if any discrepancy is found during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular assembly segment should be done and compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.
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.
The DMK combine has won 37 of the 38 LS constituencies in Tamil Nadu, and bagged 13 of the 22 assembly bypolls. What swept away the AIADMK-BJP alliance in the southern state was not dravidian ideology but job loss and graft bias, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The prime minister's advisers might have told him that going along with this AIADMK government will damage his image.'
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
Inaugurating the Defence Expo in Thiruvidanthai in Tamil Nadu, Modi said the Defence Procurement Procedure was revised with many specific provisions for stimulating growth of the domestic defence industry.
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.
