Farmers and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu on Monday staged rail roko agitation at various places in the state demanding the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board immediately.
Stalin's sister and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi will for the first time try her luck in the Lok Sabha.
As the Opposition leader in the state assembly, M K Stalin has to fend off the ruling AIADMK on the one hand and prevent the re-emergence of a non-Dravidian Opposition on the other -- but his immediate challenge comes from within, in the form of his wheelchair-bound octogenarian party leader and father M Karunanidhi, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Suspended Dravida Munetra Kazhagam leader M K Alagiri, who spoke to our correspondent from Madurai, says that he welcomes Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi becoming the country's prime minister.
DMK treasurer said the talks of his brother's return to party are rumours.
A day after a senior leader submitted his resignation from the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam demanding that M K Stalin be declared the chief ministerial candidate for the 2016 assembly polls, the M Karunanidhi-led party on Thursday accused him of indiscipline and suspended him from all posts.
Sibling rivalry in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to the fore for yet another time on Saturday, with the party high command dissolving a Madurai unit and replacing it with a temporary body dominated by supporters of its Treasurer M K Stalin.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Throwing his party's weight behind the Congress to ensure an Opposition win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said arguments by some favouring a front without the grand old party should be rejected.
Dismissing media reports suggesting DMK would align with BJP, party chief M Karunanidhi on Friday clarified that his party would contest the Lok Sabha polls with existing partners in the alliance.
It was decided by Tamil Nadu Congress to push for at least 45 seats and in a worst case scenario climb down a few seats and conclude the deal and it has worked out as was expected.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
First Information Reports have been filed against Dravida Munnetra Kazagham President M Karunanidhi and his son and party treasurer M K Stalin in connection with a clash between their supporters and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers in the wake of conviction of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the assets case.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi was re-elected as party president for the 11th time in a row by the newly constituted general council on Friday.
In the clearest-ever hint, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Thursday indicated that his younger son and treasurer M K Stalin would be successor in the party after him.
Ten senior DMDK functionaries on Tuesday raised a banner of revolt against the party high command's decision to align with the PWF for the May 16 assembly polls, virtually giving an ultimatum to Vijayakanth to reverse his decision by noon on Wednesday.
Barring a minor incident when some supporters of the dead leader booed DMK's youth wing leader M K Stalin, the funeral procession passed off peacefully.
Ageing leadership, reckless family-oriented politics, absence of inner-party democracy, lack of debate on core issues within the party are all taking a very heavy toll on the original Dravidian party, says R Ramasubramanian.
The ruling AIADMK is leaving no stone unturned to win the Vellore Lok Sabha poll and push its tally to two in the state, with its candidate even donning the skull cap to woo minority votes. But the DMK's stars are clearly on the ascendant in the lone constituency that goes to the polls on August 5. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday alleged that use of money, muscle power and misuse of official machinery by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were responsible for the party's worst-ever performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, where it drew a blank.
AIADMK's Jayalalithaa won three assembly by-elections from her hospital bed. However, the DMK heir's decision to disempower second-line satraps, who were running personal fiefdoms in their districts, and his fresh approach, could prove beneficial in the next polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on Thursday relieved of the finance portfolio by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
A high-pitched battle between party patriarch Karunanidhi and son MK Stalin for power and the failure to oust corrupt leaders and maintain a clean image has left the party in shambles, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi and other senior leaders prevailed over party Treasurer M K Stalin to reconsider his decision to quit party posts owning moral responsibility for its rout in Lok Sabha elections, with his brother and Madurai-based expelled leader M K Alagiri describing it as a "drama."
The satta market is accepting bets on how many times Modiji will mention Nehru at his election rallies, says A Ganesh Nadar with a wink.
Vaiko's stock dwindles as the DMK's poaching of his cadre continues unabated. R Ramasubramanian reports from Chennai.
It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
After much acrimony and suspense over his next course of action, suspended Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Alagiri on Thursday offered an olive branch to the party high command, saying he was ready for talks.
The DMK still wants to look elsewhere for excuses to its electoral debacle, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
His likable boy-next-door face and casual approach to public speaking have a unique appeal for the younger generation, but it stops there, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maintaining that he has been "unfairly vilified" and suspended, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam leader M K Alagiri on Monday alleged "some forces" in the party were not allowing its chief and his father M Karunanidhi to discharge his functions.
T K S Elangovan has alleged senior bank officials forged documents and faked authorisation from the RBI, to transport huge sums of hawala money during recent elections in the state.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council meeting on Monday revived the general secretary post, and picked Edappadi K Palaniswami as the interim GS.
The Election Commission has directed covering the pictures of leaves, which resembled the Two Leaves symbol of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, on small buses plying in the city, but ruled that there was no need to interfere with the similar symbol at the entrance of the MGR Memorial in Chennai.
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.
Neither Thiruvalluvar nor me will get trapped, Rajini said with a big laugh.
"Stalin is the future of the party," said late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi about six years ago at a party meet when his son was party treasurer.
The DMK, AIADMK, PMK, BJP gear up for next May's assembly elections.
The AIADMK's staying power is not in question, but it has to regain the winning streak. That will require its leaders and leadership to re-wire themselves, to be able to re-think situations in ways different from what they had been accustomed to, suggests Sathiya Moorthy.
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