Though the DMK clinched the deal with the Congress after a logjam over seat allocation and identification, cadres of both parties are yet to forget the mental agony they underwent all these days, according to political analysts in Chennai. The high commands of the two parties will find it a tough task to prevail on them to go for election campaign straightaway, they said
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
Gandhi, who is usually flanked by senior party colleagues, was also greeted by both President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Mahila court judge M Rajalakshmi, who convicted Gnanasekaran on May 28, awarded sentences in respect of each 11 charges proved by the prosecution against him. The sentences run concurrently, the judge added.
Ramachandran, an OPS loyalist who took part in the meeting, said the former chief minister would soon meet VK Sasikala, the confidante of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa.
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday filed a defamation case against former chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi in a Sessions Court in Chennai.
The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is unlikely to contest the Lok Sabha Speaker's post and the National Democratic Alliance nominee is likely to be elected unopposed, sources said Tuesday ahead of filing of nomination for the key post.
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.
"Just because we invited the Central Minister, there's speculation that we have ties with the BJP. There's no need for us (the DMK) to have a secret pact with the BJP," Stalin said speaking after solemnising the marriage of Dileepan, son of DMK Thiruvottiyur MLA K P Shankar, with Vishali, in Chennai.
A sum of Rs two crore was on Wednesday seized from the residence and other premises of a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate and his son at Karur, a senior electoral officer said.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Thursday expelled party leader and former Rajya Sabha MP K Malaichamy, who had recently said that Narendra Modi was her "good friend".
The parties are seeking pre- and post-arrest guidelines to be followed by the central probe agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
The notices were served under the anti-defection law.
The workers, who cleaned the statue, demanded the arrest of the culprits and warned that they would intensify their agitation if such incidents recurred, police said.
After a high-level party meet in Chennai, Vaiko said his party has unanimously decided to support the DMK in the by-election.
AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami is under pressure from his party as his unclear stand on the BJP alliance has brought back fears among party workers that the party may lose its identity, be forced into an unwanted coalition, and be taken over by the BJP later, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The EPS camp feels assertiveness will help the AIADMK keep the BJP's seat-share ambitions to the minimum,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.'
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
In the continuing crackdown by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, the personal assistant of former Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga minister Pongalur N Palanisamy and a DMK general council member were among four people arrested on Friday on charges of land grabbing at Chettipalayam area on the city's outskirts. The arrests followed a complaint from one Gunasekaran of Peramanallur near Tirupur.
Days after sending feelers to the Communist Party of India-Marxist and CPI which had quit the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday said no talks had been held with them so far and declined to commit on the number of seats they would be offered if they joined the Democratic Progressive Alliance.
Arrested Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji has resigned from the council of ministers, Raj Bhavan said on Tuesday.
Forty-two of the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the general election's first phase are constituencies that have three or more candidates facing criminal cases, according to a poll rights body.
Both the parties were not represented at the opposition meeting that decided on fielding Alva as their consensus candidate, but Pawar had said that he is in touch with both TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP convener and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Days after raising in the Parliament the issue of alleged tapping of telephone lines of their party leader J Jayalalithaa, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order a judicial probe into the issue and initiate action against police officials conducting surveillance of her residence.
Protests were held across Tamil Nadu with raising of slogans-- "Vendum Vendum Kudineer Vendum" (we want water) and "Edappadi Arasai Kandikirom" (we condemn chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy's government).
Balaji was arrested on June 14 last year by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister in an earlier AIADMK government.
After an initial close fight, AINRC managed to win only eight seats, including the Indira Nagar constituency by party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
Senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram has joined the popular micro-blogging site Twitter and says he is on board for sharing serious views.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday appointed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M K Stalin as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and invited him to form the government after he staked claim, submitting a letter on his election as legislature party leader.
However, in the event of the Bharatiya Janata Party deciding to contest, his candidate would withdraw from the race, he said.
Tamil Nadu has sought an interim relief of Rs 5,060 crore from the Centre in connection with the damage caused by Cyclone Michaung, the state government said on Wednesday.
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde sought to draw a parallel between Karnataka's handling of Neha Hiremath's killing to the way West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee allegedly shielded the Sandeshkhali case accused Shajahan Sheikh.
Actor Salman Khan's home became a protest site on Sunday morning when several Tamils collected outside the star's home in Bandra, Mumbai and chanted slogans against him.
The deposed coordinator, heading a small faction, hopes to consolidate Amma (late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) loyalists to unify the AIADMK factions aiming to coerce another former Chief Minister K Palaniswami, heading the dominant faction, to accept dual leadership in the party.
He will be remembered for mustering the courage to take on former chief ministers and the state's political heavyweights M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa in the political arena on his own terms and also hold his own against them.
Ahead of the Winter Session in Parliament, leaders of 11 opposition parties met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
The campaign will reach a high decibel level next week when BJP state chief K Annamalai is expected to take up a blitzkrieg campaign against the ruling DMK.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
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