'Jayalalithaa could not do what MGR did, and Sasikala will not be able to do what Jayalalithaa did.'
'Everybody knows Baalu and all the trouble he caused in UPA-I. The AIADMK thinks it can win with the distribution of money. It may work in some parts, but not everywhere.' Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits Tamil Nadu's rice bowl where a former Cabinet minister is fighting for political survival.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Monday adopted a resolution to urge the Centre and the President to fix a timeframe for state governors to approve bills adopted by the respective houses.
Making clear its stand over the United Progressive Alliance's ambitious Food Security Bill, the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam on Sunday said it would support it only if it incorporated all the important amendments sought by various political parties and not in its present form.
The country is all set for the second round of elections on April 18 in the ongoing seven-phase Lok Sabha polls that will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament. Going to polls in the second phase will be 95 seats in 12 states and one Union Territory. Here is a look at some of the big names contesting in phase two of Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP will be the obvious gainer while the DMK will lose a major chunk of its vote bank.
The AIADMK supremo retained 13 of her ministers, who were in the previous cabinet, besides inducting 17 new faces including four women.
A bulletin from the hospital on Sunday night said it has taken expert opinion from a UK-based doctor who examined her and concurred with the present line of management.
The Bharatiya Janata Party vs ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam battle over live telecast of the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration in Tamil Nadu shrines reached the Supreme Court on Monday, with the apex court asking the authorities to act in accordance with the law and not based on any oral instructions.
Anything can happen, says a young Congress leader.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam over dynasty politics and alleged corruption, calling them "2G, 3G, 4G" parties and said the time has come in Tamil Nadu to throw away these and give the power to a "son of the soil".
Rahul Gandhi's birthday greeting to the DMDK supremo signifies that the Congress vice president is expanding his ambit of functioning and graduating from handling just organisational affairs, reports Anita Katyal.
If politics in Tamil Nadu, under Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, can be compared to a complex game of chess, then she is undoubtedly the all-powerful queen while her ministers are mere pawns. If it is compared to a game of rummy, then she is the ace of cards and her ministers are simply a pack of jokers.
'Each of them is a setu (bridge) that links the government with the party, but their territories are different.'
With the Apollo Hospitals chairman saying that she has recovered, the party can go back to business as usual.
The last leg of poll campaign saw many national leaders canvassing for their parties.
As many as 28 out of 41 sitting women MPs, including Sonia Gandhi, Hema Malini and Kirron Kher, retained their seats in Lok Sabha.
While the DMK dubbed the meeting as only a 'courtesy visit', Rao did not meet the waiting reporters.
Monday's surprise meeting is an admission by the Bharatiya Janata Party that their purported strategy of hoping to ride the popular 'Modi wave' in a Tamil Nadu without Jaya and a bed-ridden Karunanidhi does not have much chance of success, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ten senior DMDK functionaries on Tuesday raised a banner of revolt against the party high command's decision to align with the PWF for the May 16 assembly polls, virtually giving an ultimatum to Vijayakanth to reverse his decision by noon on Wednesday.
Subramanian Swamy stole the BJP thunder in Tamil Nadu by meeting DMDK's Vijaykanth in Chennai, and his efforts seem to have paid off, at least in the interim, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
'They have been imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK's Jayalalithaa won three assembly by-elections from her hospital bed. However, the DMK heir's decision to disempower second-line satraps, who were running personal fiefdoms in their districts, and his fresh approach, could prove beneficial in the next polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Udhayanidhi's ascension in the party is seen as a precursor to him being given key roles in the DMK in future which is now helmed by his 66-year old father Stalin.
Having a young, untested leader makes sense for the Tamil Nadu BJP. But the new state president's immediate concern will be to gain acceptance within the state unit that is still in the grip of those with a strong RSS background, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Any narrative against the Dravidian model may impact the BJP's prospects in Tamil Nadu. This may explain why the BJP in Tamil Nadu is placing more emphasis on corruption allegations against the DMK, even as the party focuses nationally on the Sanatana controversy.
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.
Karunanidhi was convinced that using the 2G cases against the DMK and reopening the fodder case against Lalu Prasad Yadav were products of the Congress leadership's short-sightedness. A revealing excerpt from A S Panneerselvan's Karunanidhi: A Life.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
The BJP and the AIADMK are unable to sort out ideological differences, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes 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.
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.
Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad during his retirement speech in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday summed up his more than four-decade-old political career in few Urdu couplets and a brief speech.
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.
In focus are the assembly polls in 2026. From a BJP perspective, their attack on the ruling DMK, using the 'Hindutva' card, and Annamalai's targeting of both Dravidian majors on corruption has not worked, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
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