After sparking a row over his Sanatan Dharma remarks, Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'twisting' his statement and spreading fake news.
Even as the United Progressive Alliance government battles protests by Opposition BJP over the selection of Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner, it has now been stung by one of its allies, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is reportedly upset over the lack of courtesy extended by the government on the appointment.
A delegation of opposition party leaders on Friday met the top brass of Election Commission to raise its concerns over poll code violations by the ruling party leaders, and also flagged concerns over delay in release of voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the polls.
That the DMK has chosen Friday 8 pm in Chennai to flex its muscles means that its 16 Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs will not be attending to either their ministerial office or Parliament from Monday
Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting. He has invited the leaders of all the non-BJP parties.
'We have to change the Dravidian influence on the people.'
The DMK leadership may now have to deal with a demand for more seats from its Congress ally in the Lok Sabha polls, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers -- S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan, S Jagatrakshakan -- on Wednesday submitted their resignations from the government to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But Union minister and DMK leader M K Alagiri was conspicuous by his absence.
The anti-Koodankulam nuclear power plant activists on Wednesday demanded that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdraw support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and stand by their cause,as they continued their stir demanding scrapping of the project.
The 2G spectrum scam involving DMK leader A Raja will have an impact on the party's prospects in the forthcoming Tamil Nadu assembly election, feels DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan.
After quitting the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam on Monday demanded that India should boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled to be held in Colombo in November.
Breaking its silence, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday decided to support with "bitterness" the United Progressive Alliance government in Parliament on Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector issue in order to prevent "communal" forces coming to power.
Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka," Chidambaram said.
Congress on Monday warned its leaders in Tamil Nadu that action would be taken against them if they make statements in public against the alliance with the state's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Congress candidate Elangovan secured 1,10,156 votes (64.58 per cent), which is 20.29 per cent more than the 2021 assembly election as the then INC candidate secured 66,300 votes and won the seat.
Panneerselvam indicated that he would support the move but laid down certain conditions, he said without divulging them. "I hope the two factions would sort out the differences soon," Annamalai said.
He also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to create a Delhi-like situation in Puducherry and take power away from an elected government.
Smarting under its recent electoral debacle, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will make a token representation at the second anniversary celebrations of the United Progressive Alliance II in New Delhi on Sunday evening. None of its six Union ministers will be present at the event
United Progressive Alliance's second largest partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday demanded reconsideration of the decision to allow FDI in the multi-brand retail sector and said it would back any opposition-sponsored resolution that may be brought on the issue in Parliament.
'Our party's stand has always been that the minorities must be protected.' 'It is not appeasement.'
In a state that usually plumbs for a Dravidian major, three candidates have a chance of delivering for the BJP, observes A Ganesh Nadar.
Criticising the United Progressive Alliance government for continuing to allow training of Sri Lankan defence personnel in the country despite opposition to it in Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazha, a key ally of the ruling front, on Monday said India should immediately stop such exercises.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday carried out searches at 19 places across Tamil Nadu, including the residence of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Stalin in Chennai in a case of alleged tax evasion of imported cars.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
After a meeting with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said the arrest of Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case would not have any impact on the ties between the two parties but insisted that the government would not interfere in the case.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Both the DMK and ADMK are equally to blame.' 'When the question is violence against Dalits, they don't take measures to protect Dalits.'
With DMK facing increasing heat on Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam over the 2G spectrum scam, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said on Monday that his party was not adamant in getting the telecom portfolio for A Raja during the United Progressive Alliance government formation in 2009.
In the pre-budget measure, the government has announced an across-the-board increase in rail passenger fares with effect from January 21 to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore (Rs 66 billion) a year, the first such increase in a decade.
Capitalising on the boycott by main opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance on Friday expectedly swept the by-polls to five Tamil Nadu assembly seats, trouncing actor-politician Vijaykant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam by impressive margins.
Modi shared the warmth of Chief Minister M K Stalin who briefly held the PM's hand and patted the back of the latter's palm while walking through the displays exhibited at the new Chennai airport terminal.
Refuting speculations of split in the alliance between Congress and National Conference, Omar Abdullah said his party has no intention of leaving the alliance.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress were locked in a battle of attrition, a day after the regional party announced pulling out its ministers from the United Progressive Alliance government with neither party making any moves to break the deadlock in the aftermath of failure of seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
According to top sources in the government, Maran's return cannot be ruled out.
Notwithstanding his suspension from the party, three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MPs met former Union Minister M K Alagiri at his residence in Madurai even as the rebel leader's supporters put up posters praising him on the occasion of his 63rd birthday on Thursday.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, who had recently announced his party's decision to face civic polls without ally Congress, on Wednesday, said he was not sure if the national party would support DMK in the Tiruchirappalli (West) bye-election.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will on Thursday apprise President Pratibha Patil of the attacks on its headquarters in Tamil Nadu allegedly by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers and seek her intervention on the issue.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
It also promised to repeal the law banning religious conversions.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made his national ambitions amply clear, even rechristening his party to aid the process, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin insists he is already in the national scene and used his birthday rally on March 1 to not only strongly pitch for the Congress as a force to reckon with in the efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre, but also sought to shoot down the prospects of a Third Front.
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