The Telugu Desam Party is reportedly shocked after three of its Members of Parliament -- T Devender Goud, Y Satyanarayana Choudary and Gundu Sudha Rani -- abstained from voting on the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's motion against Foreign Direct Investment in Rajya Sabha on Friday evening. TDP has five MPs in the Rajya Sabha of whom two -- Nandamuri Harikrishna and C M Ramesh -- voted against the government on Friday.
Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, on Thursday termed Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran's resignation from the Union Cabinet as "long overdue" and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain why action against "corrupt" ministers was delayed. They also claimed that Maran's resignation was "too little" and "too late".
The government engineered a victory of sorts when it succeeded in neutralising the Samajwadi party, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Trinamool Congress in stacking up the numbers on the FDI issue, says Renu Mittal.
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday night hosted a dinner for United Progressive Alliance leaders where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is understood to have insisted that government should avoid voting in Parliament on FDI in retail, making clear its reservation on the issue.
Barely a month after All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa talked about a national role for her party in the Lok Sabha polls due in 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani on Saturday described her as a "natural ally," fuelling speculation that both parties could come together ahead of the polls. "We see in Jayalalithaa a natural ally," Advani said at the 42nd anniversary celebrations of Tamil weekly 'Thuglaq'.
As the noose tightens around textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran, his party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is quietly but surely distancing itself from him
Sasikala's brother-in-law M Palanivel and another relative Kaliyaperumal were expelled from AIADMK.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko was arrested in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, when he and party workers tried to picket the Neyveli Lignite Corporation office, demanding that the public sector unit stop power supply to Karnataka, which has stopped release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Friday amid protests by opposition and treasury benches over the alleged insult to Dr B R Ambedkar and directions by Speaker Om Birla to members against holding demonstrations at any gate of Parliament.
Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Monday evicted enmasse from Tamil Nadu Assembly with a couple of them being handed a two-day suspension for disrupting the proceedings.
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.
Natarajan was admitted to the hospital on Saturday with severe chest infection and was put on ventilator support.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of "blatantly interfering" in CBI's functioning.
Besides Mukherjee, who is leader of the Lok Sabha, the committee, headed by Speaker Meira Kumar, will have four other members from the Congress, three from Bharatiya Janata Party each from Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Communist Party of India-Marxist.
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.
Amid threat to pull out Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers and quit the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, party chief M Karunanidhi made a fresh demand insisting that Parliament adopt a resolution incorporating the two amendments he had suggested to the government to be moved on the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC.
Known for his organisational skills, Union Minister and party's strongman M K Alagiri shies away from open electioneering. But he is always on the move, crisscrossing southern Tamil Nadu giving 'pep talks' to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam cadre
Praja Rajyam Party President K Chiranjeevi will campaign on Thursday for the Congress party in the by-election to Bangarupalem assembly constituency in Karnataka.
According to the list of business uploaded on the apex court website, the plea of opposition parties would be heard on April 5 by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday expressed grave disappointment over the railway budget with its chief Sharad Pawar telling a meeting of the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee that Mumbai has been neglected, which is "not acceptable".
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.
Undeterred by the controversy surrounding its seat sharing talks with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the Congress has begun moves for an 'honourable alliance' with the Trinamool Congress in poll-bound West Bengal.
With key UPA allies -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members -- clearly expressing their resentment to a new state, sources say the Congress is now looking to find a way out of the situation.
The party has called a meeting of its district secretaries in Chennai to take a decision in this regard.
Jayalalithaa government on Friday filed a defamation complaint in a court in Chennai against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi and editor, printer and publisher of party organ Murasoli over remarks by the 89-year-old leader on reasons behind delay in release of controversial movie Vishwaroopam.
Ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's arch rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and main opposition party in the state Assembly Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam are finally set to fight it out to bag the sixth seat in the June 27 biennial elections for the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.
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.
Slamming the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka for being "determined" in denying Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa on Monday said that her party would go it alone in the next Lok Sabha polls and secure all 40 seats in order to assert its rights in Delhi.
In further trouble for beleaguered Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, a petition seeking impeachment proceedings against him was moved by as many as 76 Rajya Sabha members on Monday.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi, chairman of the select committee on Lokpal, did not inform many of the Opposition parties about the meeting to be held on Monday
Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed two adjournments during the pre-lunch sitting following uproar over Centre sending a team of officials to West Bengal to assess the situation in the state after a spate of violence.
A meeting of Nationalist Congress Party office bearers will be held in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the coming Presidential poll as the party leader P A Sangma faces possible disciplinary action for remaining in the race going against the party directive.
Ahead of a crucial meeting of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's highest policy-making body, differences were understood to have cropped up between the supporters of party chief M Karunanidhi's two sons at the executive meet in Coimbatore on Saturday on the issue of assembly polls which saw the party's rout.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution on Thursday condemning the Centre's proposed Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, calling for its recall. Chief Minister M K Stalin argued that the amendment interferes with religious affairs and would negatively impact the Muslim minority. The resolution was unanimously passed by the Assembly, with support from all parties, including the opposition AIADMK and PMK. The BJP, however, walked out in protest, accusing the ruling DMK of engaging in divisive politics. The bill aims to streamline the Waqf Board's work and ensure efficient management of Waqf properties but has been criticized for potentially encroaching on religious freedom and autonomy. The Tamil Nadu government claims that the amendment would lead to government control over the Waqf Board and its properties, impacting its autonomy and potentially allowing for government acquisition of Muslim-owned lands.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned till noon on Friday when Opposition members disrupted the Question Hour for the 16th working day, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2-G spectrum allocation scam. In the Lok Sabha, members from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance allies, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Samajwadi Party walked into the well.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi can no longer serve as chancellor of state-run universities, a decision welcomed by the ruling DMK party. The court's judgment stems from a long-standing dispute between the state government and the governor over the assent of 10 bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The DMK alleges that the governor had obstructed the smooth functioning of universities by delaying appointments and other critical matters. The judgment paves the way for the Tamil Nadu government to appoint new chancellors for its universities, effectively removing the governor's influence in higher education.
Indicating that India was in "safe hands" with the BJP, he said "You can protect the country if you accept the BJP's ideology."
After promising support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the 2G Spectrum controversy, Tirnamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee took the Congress by surprise when she joined the Opposition in their demand for a joint parliamentary committee on Monday.
Rajya Sabha members alleged that their counterparts in Lok Sabha get preferential treatment at Parliamentary functions.
