Two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate on Tuesday, with the opposition terming the move 'dictatorial' and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal asserting that the legislation would not tamper with the powers enjoyed by states.
Indications are that the DMK combine will win more seats than the AIADMK and BJP, but is facing a tough fight in about half a dozen from the rest, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy of the electoral contest in Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reacted to Andhra Pradesh counterpart Pawan Kalyan's out-of-turn taunts with a one-liner, 'Let's wait', and thereby hangs a tale, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the Budget and the Finance Bill yet to be passed, senior Congress leaders have gone into overdrive to salvage the situation and save the government and ensure that the DMK with its 18 MPs is back on track as far as the UPA is concerned.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
An interesting multi-cornered contest is on the cards for the urban local body elections in Tamil Nadu scheduled for February 19 with opposition parties, which were with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam till a few days ago, set to take on the ruling DMK banking on their respective party's own strength.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
'The alliance led by the DMK is starting with 15% votes while the AIADMK is starting from scratch.' 'Minority votes may be crucial'
AIADMK insiders see the very idea of an NDA conclave as a measure of the BJP's current electoral assessment, stemming from relative weakness in 2024 compared to 2014 and 2019. In their reckoning, the BJP now needs allies more than the other way round, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin also heaped praise on "brother" Rahul Gandhi, saying he is the "ideal antidote" to the BJP's "parochial" politics.
'The DMK may get a little more than 50% of the minority vote.' 'The AIADMK always gets over 10% of the minority vote.'
Vijay has a lot of young and middle-aged women fans, but as voters, they are possibly now with the DMK, or remain with the AIADMK. Recapturing this constituency would have helped Vijay's political launch and the GOAT script and dialogues could have gone a long way in helping out. But the kind of script and screenplay and the unusually and equally unnecessary long run-time (3 hours, 3 minutes) that GOAT offers takes the film experience over the heads of those that are not familiar with secret agents and uranium theft in Tamil cinema, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
On Tuesday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi sought to put to rest speculation about a possible rift between his party and the Congress.
There are states that could swing either way and change the results of the 2024 general election.
DMK candidate Kathir Anand defeated All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam nominee AC Shanmugham in the bypoll by a narrow margin of 8,141 votes.
Already, there is a feeling even within the BJP's AIADMK ally that the BJP is overdoing things on the ED/I-T front, as corruption is not an election issue in the state -- as long as the people are otherwise not excessively unhappy with the governing party, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'When you weigh anti-incumbency against the Centre against anti-incumbency against the state, anti-incumbency against the Centre will triumph as this is a parliamentary election.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was surging ahead in two southern states -- Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka -- while the respective blocs led by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Congress in Kerala were on their way for another excellent show, going by the latest trends emerging from the counting of voted polled in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
The NR Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance on Monday emerged victorious in Puducherry Assembly polls.
The DMK and its allies submitted a list of pending assembly bills with the Raj Bhavan.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress MP from Sivaganga also slammed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and said the people of Tamil Nadu do not want a government which has any "stain, scent or shadow" of the BJP as its 'Hindi-Hindutva' agenda "irritates" them.
Inscrutable have been the ways of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. She is a political strategist and tactician rolled into one that her unpredictable ways have won the day for her - mostly, says N Sathiya Moorthy
If not for Palaniswami, it is hard to guess if the AIADMK would have been able to garner 33.3 per cent vote share as against the DMK's 37.7 per cent. AIADMK won 66 seats, its allies Pattali Makkal Katchi and Bharatiya Janata Party five and four seats respectively and proved yet again that the western region was its fortress.
The Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced that it would contest alone in the urban civic polls slated to be held on February 19, even while asserting that its alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the state remained intact.
The results will be announced on May 2.
Congress leader Manmohan Singh said modalities like seat sharing would be discussed later.
Indicating that Tamil Nadu will soon follow Maharashtra in witnessing a regime change, state Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Annamalai has claimed "an Eknath Shinde will emerge in" the state, comments that were dismissed outright by the ruling party.
The high court, which refused to prepone the date of hearing of the petition, said an endeavour shall be made to hear and dispose of the petition on April 10.
Stalin expressed his 'heartfelt thanks' to all the people of the state for mandating his party to govern Tamil Nadu for the sixth time.
Alleging that Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said it should be eradicated.
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, which had snapped ties with Pattali Makkal Katchi two months ago, on Sunday invited the S Ramadoss-led party back in the alliance, a move supported by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram.Karunanidhi, in an interview, said the Democratic Progressive Alliance in the state would have been stronger if the PMK continued in the alliance but stressed that the alliance had not been weakened due to its ouster.
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Issues such as seat sharing and being part of the DMK led government were not a priority now and that the main goal was to ensure that DMK comes to power.
Kharge alleged that Dhankhar is working as a government spokesperson and acting like a school headmaster, often sermonising experienced opposition leaders and preventing them from speaking in the House.
A new entrant, whether a popular actor or not, has not been able to sweep the polls, as their fans had hoped for. Given a proven pattern, it should hold true for Vijay as well. Or, something drastically has to happen between now and 2026, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Tamil Nadu presents a challenge to the BJP and its politics.' 'DMK is making all efforts to resist the BJP.'
After a high-level party meet in Chennai, Vaiko said his party has unanimously decided to support the DMK in the by-election.
In his first poll rally for the April 6 assembly polls, Modi rooted for the Tamil language, culture and invoked the welfare legacies of M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, late chief ministers and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam icons.
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