A lone ranger braves the summer sun to get the party's message to voters in a small town in Tamil Nadu.
In an age when the electorate is increasingly impatient and changes governments every 5 years, how did the Tamil Nadu chief minister beat anti-incumbency?
The Joint Parliamentary Committee report on 2G spectrum scam, which was to have been tabled in Lok Sabha on September 30 is further delayed until the Winter Session of Parliament.
Though the 2019 alliance talks, if any, are a long way off, CM Jaya's current state of health and her long hospitalisation maybe a facilitating factor for the AIADMK to consider any BJP initiative favourably at the time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Lok Sabha proceedings were washed out for the second consecutive day on Wednesday after the House was repeatedly adjourned due to protests by opposition members who were demanding a separate discussion on the farm laws issue.
The government on Tuesday asserted in Lok Sabha that it was ready to discuss issues related to farmers both inside and outside Parliament amid vociferous protests by the Opposition which forced repeated adjournments of both the Houses.
While the opposition members protested the interruption by Thakur, the BJP members persuaded her to sit down. After which, the Speaker said only A Raja's statement will be taken on record.
In the absence of the over-arching 'Jaya charisma', EPS has to convince the AIADMK's traditional constituencies, including those in his western districts, that his leadership would stand up against the BJP-led Centre even in a post-poll scenario, a la Jayalalithaa, and would not yield as much as party founder MGR had done, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Members suspended included K Ashok Kumar, R K Bharathi Mohan, M Chandrakasi, Jayakumar Jayavardhan, K Parasuraman, Dr K Kamraj, P Kumar, M Vasanti, C Mahendram, K Margatham and P Nagarajan.
The Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, have indicated that their party chiefs have better credentials for the post than the newly-elected Congress head, reports Archis Mohan
The current question is about the BJP-ruled Centre, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, like its predecessors, not arguing the Union of India's case effectively and continuously, whenever the matter came up in the past, if its case still was that Rajiv's killing was an 'act of terror', asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The two Houses would now meet on December 27 as there would be no sitting on December 24 and December 26 in view of Christmas.
As political rivals clamour to retain their pan-Tamil credentials, the BJP may use the 'nationalist' card to even the odds in its favour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Despite drawing a blank in Tamil Nadu, its leaders in the state claimed they should strike roots without using a crutch at this "most opportune" time, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Will the 2016 assembly election be Stalin's to lead the DMK in?
Having burnt his fingers with MGR very badly in the past and later with Vaiko, it suited the DMK chief, when disgruntled cadres upset with Stalin's choice for lower-rung party positions, began gravitating towards another member of the DMK's 'first family', says N Sathiya Moorthy
It looked as if the BJP was hoping to use Rajinikanth to press their seat-bargain with the AIADMK. Now with the Rajini bait gone, the question now is not how much the BJP would settle for, but how much the AIADMK would be ready to offer, notes 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.
For the AIADMK, winning the Srirangam by-election without Jayalalithaa campaigning for it, and having Panneerselvam as chief minister, is saying a lot in its favour. But again, a year and more is a long time in electoral politics in the country, and more so in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Once the Covid crisis subsides in the state, the NEET exam this year, whether conducted or cancelled, could become an electoral issue next year, along with the BC-MBC reservations issue, especially the 'creamy layer' aspect, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Vijayakanth's DMDK may play a key role as Tamil Nadu's political parties scramble for allies to capture the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
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.
'Of equal importance was the AIADMK's precarious assembly membership, what with 11 of its MLAs including deputy chief minister OPS facing court cases for disqualification and by-elections due in another 21. To shore up the party's numbers for anticipated eventuality on the 11-MLAs' front, the AIADMK leadership in general and chief minister EPS in particular, were even more focussed on assembly seats than LS seats, just now,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
To claim that Tamil Nadu was waiting for a messiah of the 'spiritual' Rajini kind is misplaced, if not mischievous, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Lending his support to the ongoing farmers protests, he said in Lok Sabha that it was not an agitation of the farmers only but a movement of the country and the government will have to repeal the laws.
Proceedings in Rajya Sabha were repeatedly disrupted on Monday before being called off for the day as opposition members protested on the alleged phone-tapping and other issues and demanded discussions on them in the House.
Narayanasamy had served as the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office in the second United Progressive Alliance government, after being minister of state, Parliamentary Affairs, in the first UPA government.
The BJP's parliamentary board, which held a meeting at 11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had inconclusive deliberations about the alliance of the southern states on Friday.
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.
Another bill related to the farm sector, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, was passed on Tuesday.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam is set to get a fresh extension beyond September 6 with the Lok Sabha on Wednesday unanimously adopting a resolution to this effect.
The Bengal outcome can have a marginal impact on national politics. Whereas elections in UP next year might still change the course ahead of the parliamentary poll in 2024, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The Jaya-Jaitley meeting poses more questions than answers -- and not just for the Tamil Nadu BJP.
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.
Now that Tamil Nadu's tallest politician is no more, it remains to be seen how new political re-alignments could shape up, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
'When an individual becomes authoritarian, you can overthrow the individual easily. 'When the system becomes authoritarian, whoever challenges the system will be called a criminal or an anti-national.'
'Let me stick my neck out and say that Tamil Nadu will keep alive its reputation for landslide election verdicts, with the DMK front winning at least 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
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