AIADMK has finalised its seat-sharing arrangement with key NDA alliance members, including the BJP, PMK, and AMMK, for the upcoming elections, as announced by AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay is unlikely to take oath on Thursday as chief minister as the actor-turned politician firms up support to cross the majority mark in the Tamil Nadu assembly, sources said on Wednesday.
The DMK has announced its candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, setting the stage for key battles with the AIADMK and other parties.
Vijay was appointed CM after he presented letters of support from the VCK and the IUML who have two MLAs each.
V K Sasikala, a close aide of the late J Jayalalithaa, has announced the launch of a new political party in Tamil Nadu, potentially leading to a four-way contest in the upcoming state Assembly elections.
If TVK MLAs and ministers are perceived as clean, or demonstrably cleaner than their predecessors, the credibility dividend will be enormous. The voter will feel rewarded, points out Ramesh Menon.
In Tamil Nadu, the political landscape is shifting as the TVK party's attempt to form a government faces challenges from its potential allies. Both the DMK and AIADMK are experiencing internal divisions regarding extending support to the TVK, leading to uncertainty and speculation about potential realignments.
'Vijay did not defeat Dravidian politics from outside. He entered the Dravidian field and claimed ownership of it. 'His argument was not that the room should be destroyed. It was that the present occupants no longer deserved to remain in it.'
'Remember Vijay had never spoke of himself as a Christian when he was a film star.' 'The BJP strategy is they want the Christian minority constituency to move away from the DMK.' 'That is what the BJP wants so that it will be very easy to mobilise Hindu votes.' 'This strategy is to weaken the Dravidian ideology and bring in religion based politics into Tamil Nadu.'
'Vijay entered politics at a much better age compared to Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan. His fans are young and he has at least 2-3 decades ahead of him.'
Whether Vijay has the political spine to stitch together a stable government from this patchwork of conditions, demands, and midnight drama is the question Tamil Nadu is living through right now.
'Even if they align with the TVK now, I don't think the AIADMK leadership will completely surrender to the dominance of Vijay.'
Tamil Nadu will elect a new government on April 23.
Will the DMK retain power? Can the AIADMK spring a surprise? And what about Vijay's TVK? A Ganesh Nadar surveys the election landscape a day after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu on Thursday saw a massive voter participation during the ongoing assembly elections, with turnout reaching 89.93 per cent and 82.24 per cent respectively by 5 pm, according to the Election Commission of India.
'The AIADMK will lose a lot of votes simply because it is aligned with the BJP.'
The PMK leader said that he came into the NDA fold to defeat the "anti-people" ruling DMK.
'EPS exposed all the traitors. The DMK has given them political asylum. They are political orphans.'
Tamil superstar breaks silence, questions TVK leader's claim that DMK pressure forced him to quit politics.
NDA constituents AIADMK and BJP have started preliminary discussions for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Key leaders from both parties met to discuss strategies to defeat the DMK government and strengthen their alliance.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has asserted that alliances are formed only at the time of elections and declined to categorically say if his party would align with the BJP for the 2026 Assembly polls. Palaniswami met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday and brought to his attention several issues faced by Tamil Nadu, including the need for funds release, the implementation of the Godavari-Cauvery river linking plan, and a probe into the "TASMAC scam." He said that while the party would decide on an alliance at the time of the election, he did not rule out a tie-up with the BJP.
'The AIADMK and DMK have 75% of the total votes. 25% of the voters do not support the two majors,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
'The AIADMK front comes second, and then the TVK.'
'The BJP is projected as a party that follows Hindu politics, talking about religion, gods and goddess all the time.'
'People of Tamil Nadu are not bothered about religion in politics.' 'That is why Tamil Nadu people do not encourage the BJP.'
The Congress and DMK parties in Tamil Nadu are set to begin seat-sharing negotiations in a week for upcoming elections, with leaders from both parties expressing confidence in a smooth and successful alliance.
Three people have been arrested in Chennai in connection with the murder of a migrant worker from Bihar, his wife, and their two-year-old son. The investigation revealed a sexual assault and subsequent killings.
According to the PM, CMC means "Corruption, Mafia, Crime."
Expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and nine-time MLA, KA Sengottaiyan joined Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) along with his supporters on Thursday, a day after he resigned as the Gobichettipalayam MLA.
The girl's father Mariyappan, a fisherman, had recently confronted the youth over his alleged harassment and warned him against troubling her, according to police and local reports.
Tamil Nadu government alerted Madhya Pradesh and the Union Health Ministry about the presence of a toxic substance in Coldrif cough syrup, averting a major tragedy, according to state Health Minister Ma Subramanian.
While the DMK depends on a 'silver sieve' of welfare schemes to stay in power, its support is slowly draining away under the weight of poor governance, corruption, and voters who are no longer satisfied with benefits alone and now want basic administration to work, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The favourable apex court was a result of the 'divinity' of party stalwarts, the late Chief Ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, he said at a mass wedding ceremony in Madurai.
The decision comes amid an assessment of potential security threats and follows standard protocol based on inputs from central security agencies.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday admitted that 'as of now, some assurances such as getting NEET scrapped', could not be fulfilled.
Party spokesperson RM Babu Murugavel tweeted a communication from the EC to Palaniswami and said it had "accepted" the amendments to the AIADMK bylaws, the general secretary election and the appointment of new office-bearers.
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Senior AIADMK leader M Thambidurai has asserted that there will be no coalition government in Tamil Nadu in 2026, with party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami forming a government "alone." He said this in response to reporters' queries on the possibility of a coalition government if the NDA wins the 2026 Assembly election. Thambidurai stated that Tamil Nadu has never had a coalition government, citing the examples of Congress leaders C Rajagopalachari and K Kamaraj, as well as Dravidian stalwarts M G Ramachandran and M Karunanidhi. He further clarified that Palaniswami's previous statement regarding a coalition government was misinterpreted by the media.
The DMK may consider a two-tier campaign, where they keep the focus on Chief Minister Stalin, as a senior statesman with 50-plus years of political experience, and let EPS and the BJP shout in the wilderness. In such a case, the second-tier may project Udhayanidhi as the contender and chosen obstructionist in Vijay's path. The attempt, if any, would be to reduce Vijay to Udhayanidhi's level when the former is aiming at Stalin and Stalin alone in the state's political horizon, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
On the admissions, he said 26 people were treated in the OPD and were discharged. And of the 67 admitted as in-patients, 2 were critical. All others were stable. One of the patients was shifted to the Madurai GH for further treatment.
Chennai Police received a phone call claiming that a bomb had been planted at the ECR, Neelankarai residence of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) Chief and actor C Joseph Vijay, officials said.
