'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
Disapproving the remarks made by Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sanatan Dharma', Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut has said it is not right to attract the anger of the entire country and that no one agrees with his statement.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party's high-level action committee, the channel reported.
Talks between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders M K Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran late on Monday night appeared to have made no headway in securing a breakthrough in the stalemate on seat-sharing between the two parties for Tamil Nadu assembly polls though DMK put on hold its decision to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday said it would not nominate any party representative to the Union ministry to fill vacancies in case of a Cabinet reshuffle.
Nitish has been engaging with national and regional party leaders in recent months as part of his mission to strengthen 'Opposition unity'.
The MPs suspended on Tuesday include National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari.
Congress and other parties kept insisting on their demand for suspension of business so the issue could be taken up.
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.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin in Chennai on Wednesday and the two leaders said politics did not come up during their discussion.
The DMK, however, will continue in the National Democratic Alliance extending outside support.
Stalin also heaped praise on "brother" Rahul Gandhi, saying he is the "ideal antidote" to the BJP's "parochial" politics.
If the DMK sticks to its position and withdraws from the UPA, one thing is certain: this government will be crisis-ridden and crisis-driven till the next election. The Congress party will run a paralytic government at the dictates of the parties supporting it from outside, says Sheela Bhatt.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister and his family were no doubt overwhelmed by his Bengal counterpart's generosity.
'We have to change the Dravidian influence on the people.'
The Congress leader threatened to give a "fitting lesson" in the ensuing elections. "People are watching the excesses of this government," he said.
The Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs, including his daughter Misa Bharti and Manoj Jha, also staged a protest at Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Parliament complex and contended that despite being the chief opposition party in Bihar and the single largest party in the Assembly, it was not invited.
The action by the Commission, which wanted the explanation from the DMK president by Tuesday evening, came on a complaint from the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Information Technology wing. Tamil Nadu goes to polls on Monday.
Targeting the Congress, the PM said those who ruled Madhya Pradesh for a long time did nothing else other than corruption and crime.
Opposition leaders on Saturday stepped up pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for stringent action against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri over his derogatory remarks against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali in the House.
With the drama on seat sharing between Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam over, the focus has now shifted to another thorny issue of identifying constituencies the two parties will contest for the forthcoming elections.Maintaining its hard position as it did on seat sharing talks, DMK has said it is prepared to let Congress retain the 48 constituencies it contested in 2006 polls but has made it clear that negotiations will decide the other 15.
In further signs of fissures within DMK, party chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Alagiri on Monday skipped the crucial executive committee meet, which is likely to take key decisions in the wake of the party's pullout from the United Progressive Alliance.
The question wafting in the winds over the Vaigai riverbed is, has Karunanidhi's disgraced son accepted his fate? A Ganesh Nadar and Saisuresh Sivaswamy find out.
popular south Indian actress Khushboo joined the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu weeks after she won a four-year long legal battle over her controversial remarks on pre-marital sex.
While the crowds outside the AIADMK HQ seem to have taken victory for granted, a small crowd out the DMK HQ refuses to concede. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports from Chennai.
Dravida Munnetra Kazahagam on Monday said it has decided to file an appeal against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's acquittal in a wealth case by the Karnataka high court.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam deputy general secretary A Raja stoked a controversy over his Shudra remark and drew the Bharatiya Janata Party's ire with the saffron party accusing him of spewing hatred against a community to appease others.
The United Progressive Alliance government will suffer a set back if ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam doest not contain the infighting between T R Baalu, leader of DMK parliamentary party, and Union Minister S S Palanimanickam, DMK's five time MP from Thanjavur constituency, over the new railway line in Thanjavur.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
"How can you expect Vaiko to accept my appeal to continue in the DPA when he has not respected the statement of his own mother," Karunanidhi asked.
Despite Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi's call to exercise restraint, members of the ruling party staged demonstrations for the third day on Tuesday, demanding action against the ex-BJP MP.
This is the impression gaining ground in Congress circles here ahead of the emergency meeting of the DMK's high-level Action Committee.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi shared moments together, enquiring about each other's health and strategising on opposition unity on the first day of the Bengaluru summit, sources told PTI.
The passenger, reportedly a party worker, who was standing alongside Stalin, was then asked to move from there.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were suspended on Thursday from the Tamil Nadu assembly for the rest of the session as the House was rocked by noisy scenes with the treasury benches sparring with them on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
In separate letters to the speaker, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Supriya Sule of the NCP, DMK leader Kanimozhi and TMC's Aparupa Poddar said what had happened with Ali is unfortunate and that action should be taken against Bidhuri.
As many as 14 opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the winter session for disrupting proceedings, as the Lok Sabha security breach incident snowballed into a major row on Thursday with the government asking the opposition not to "politicise" the "grave national issue" and the Congress, Trinamool Congress and others demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
As the DMK decided to withdraw support, the government on Tuesday moved to bring a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in Parliament in an attempt to placate the key ally which has set it as one of the conditions for reconsideration of its decision.
Taking a swipe at DMK president's statement that the party would take steps to implement prohibition if voted to power in the next elections, AIADMK said it was done with an eye on polls.
Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader M K Stalin on Sunday rubbished reports that he has offered to quit as party's treasurer after not being allowed to contest for the post of general secretary and said he only aspired to retain the post.
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