It is the third party in Tamil Nadu, after DMK and MDMK, to quit the BJP-led alliance.
A senior political commentator has said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha is the modern 'Mahishasur Mardini' who has taken birth to trounce the Congress in Tamil Nadu.
Hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the second Cabinet reshuffle of the present United Progressive Alliance government, Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam chief M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday said the reshuffle is not complete yet. "The reshuffle is not complete yet. I will comment on it after a formal announcement," he told mediapersons in Chennai.
If the Congress lost in Tamil Nadu in 1967, never to return, or the DMK and the AIADMK have kept their place in power and electoral politics since then, it owes not to their love or hatred for gods or for one religion over another. Instead, they had always been linked to performance and incumbency/anti-incumbency factors. There may be something in such constructs for Rajini's strategic team to consider, especially if the superstar is to enter direct politics by around this time next year. But then, they would need to brush up their homework more than at present, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Jayalalithaa's attack on BJP's PM hopeful a little too late in the coming, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Even as political parties in TN have decided not to field a candidate against CM Jayalalithaa in the assembly by-election, the BJP's ambivalence has shown up once again.
A staunch supporter of slain LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran, he also criticised the former prime minister for sending the Indian Peacekeeping Force to Sri Lanka in the 1980s.
"This election has upheld true democracy shattering to pieces the campaign of lies of DMK. This election has put a permanent full stop to the family rule," she said.
Singh, who headed the UPA coalition government between 2004 and 2014, turned 88 on Saturday.
The BJP's relations with some alliance partners, including its oldest ally the Shiv Sena, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United, Akali Dal and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, have been somewhat tense, and Shah's comments are being seen as an attempt to smooth their ruffled feathers.
Kanyakumari is the tip of India and will convey the symbol that from the tip of India, the Congress is on its way up.
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.
The DMK is having a meeting on Saturday to discuss the situation arising out the raids and what steps the party needs to take and what kind of reaction to formulate.
RJD president Lalu Prasad will not attend the celebrations due to ill health.
By presenting the battle in Bengal as one between Mamata on one side and Modi-Shah on the other, the saffron camp has projected the former as a larger-than-life figure, a portrayal which has the potential of turning her into Modi's main competitor in 2024, predicts Amulya Ganguli.
Congress nominee from Sivaganga and Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram says he has been working for the party since 1996.
The Congress fears of a loss of credibility, the dwindling fortunes of the DMK and a chance for one-upmanship over the Opposition, especially the BJP, meant that A Raja had to got to jail, says Sheela Bhatt
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's gesture to send a high-level team led by the education and archaeological department to meet Modi in Gandhinagar on Monday has created a flutter in Congress circles in New Delhi
Continuing its winning streak, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday retained the Yercaud (ST) assembly constituency, with party nominee P Saroja romping home with a massive margin of 78,116 votes against her DMK rival V Maran
A massive swing of 21.3 per cent in vote share propelled the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to coast to a resounding victory in 37 of the 39 seats leaving miles behind rivals including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
'The Sena has lived with the BJP long enough to know its vulnerabilities and how to hit where it hurts the most,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunandhi defended himself in the 2G spectrum scam and noted that it's not a scam till it's proven in the Supreme Court.
Sasikala's declaration of staying away from politics does not necessarily have to mean that she was retiring for good. She is only taking time to evaluate the post-poll chances of hers before digging in again, if possible, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Offering balm to the Congress, the Samajwadi Party said there was no threat to the United Progressive Alliance government despite the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's decision to pull out its ministers and the party will continue to extend support to it.
'The people of Tamil Nadu are fed up of these people, whether it is Panneerselvam or Palaniswami.'
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
No one at this point no one in the state is talking about a clean sweep with high victory margins that the AIADMK front won in the 2011 assembly elections. The 'Modi factor', as against a 'Modi wave', has ensured as much, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
Speaking to Rediff.com in New Delhi on Wednesday, Javadekar, who had visited Chennai last week and met Vijayakanth at the latter's home, said the negotiations between the two parties were on and there was no break-up as reported by some sections of the media.
Truth be acknowledged, Rajinikanth is not known for wanting to leave his comfort zone to take the politico-electoral plunge, even if it meant his becoming the chief minister of a state that has conferred Tamil cinema's superstardom on him over the past 25 years. Today, his fans belong to the younger generation all right, but their numbers are far fewer than their counterparts in the '90s. They are not devoid of personal ambitions and agendas, unlike what Rajinikanh wants them to be, if he and they were to enter politics, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam might have been pushed into a corner to come up with a prohibition policy of its own, if only to create the right atmosphere for talking about an Opposition coalition in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy
The issue of alliances in the coming assembly polls in five states including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is ticklish for the Congress with the regional parties in both states playing the 'big brother'.
The party had on Monday decided to pull out of the NDA.
Rajinikanth's visible electoral strength is his constant mouthing of the term, 'aanmiga arasiyal', or 'spiritual politics', without he having to explain what it is. By implication, it is all that what Dravidian politics is not about. It may imply anti-corruption, being against Periyar's forgotten anti-god, anti-Brahmin dictum, but also ends up covering 'Tamil pride', which begins with Tamil language where, as a Maratha from Karnataka, he has more to defend himself. However, in the contemporary national context, aanmiga arasiyal is seen as a front for Rajini to market his brand of 'soft Hindutva' but identified even more with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in political terms, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, partner in the United Progressive Alliance government, has also adopted austerity as its slogan with its Union minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday travelling by economy class of an Air India flight from Chennai to New Delhi
Even as the BJP is expected to win the vice-presidential poll, ppposition hopes to make it yet another display of its unity, reports Archis Mohan.
'Sasikala went to jail in a 19-year-old case.' 'Dinakaran went to jail in a case of attempting to bribe the Election Commission.' 'How can you link the BJP to these two cases?'
Opposition members tried to corner the government in both the Houses over the Supreme Court decision that states are not bound to provide reserved seats for the SCs, STs and OBCs in appointments and promotions.
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