The BJP, which has allied with a few smaller parties, has sought to upend the state's conventional politics, which has so far been indifferent to Hindutva politics, by taking the ruling DMK head-on for its alleged insult of Sanatan Dharma besides involvement in corruption.
Expressing dismay over reports of Indian Coast Guard participating in naval exercises with Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recall the two ships and Coast Guard personnel participating in the event in the island nation.
The streets of Chennai were gripped with tension and panic as news of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's conviction in the 18-year-old disproportionate assets case spread.
With one of the judges recusing, the Supreme Court on Thursday deferred till Friday, hearing on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's plea challenging the Bangalore trial court's order to appear before it again on November 8 in the disproportionate assets case.
The presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was not the only reason why Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa stayed away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo hospital in Chennai due to fever.
The court rejected all petitions, including that against the conduct of the party's General Secretary election.
DMK Working President MK Stalin is worried about divisions in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after the death of Jayalalithaa and keen that it should not affect the functioning of the administration.
The PMK may join the Jayalalitha led front for the forthcoming elections, after the DMK snapped ties with them.
A Ganesh Nadar visits one of Chennai's state-sponsored breakfast centres that serve piping hot food at dirt cheap prices and comes away impressed. Could the way to a voter's heart be through his stomach?
Indian National Lol Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala will host the meeting.
Actor-director Kamal Haasan, whose film 'Vishwaroopam' is facing ban in Tamil Nadu amid a raging controversy, thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for her support as he addressed mediapersons in Mumbai on Thursday.
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.
BJP workers depend on Annamalai's popularity to emerge victorious. He has has made 100 promises to be fulfilled in 500 days and assurances include cleaning up rivers, an international airport and food vans named after former Chief Minister K Kamaraj.
Jayalalithaa termed the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu as a corrupt party, pointing out that the CBI was carrying out raids on the residences and offices of people close to the party's leadership. "The 2G spectrum scam, which has caused a loss of one lakh eighty thousand crores, has been the largest scam in the history of the world .The DMK has always been a corrupt party and this scam has revealed the heights which the DMK leadership can reach in corruption," she said.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was on Saturday convicted and sentenced to four years jail in an 18-year-old corruption case in a judgment that will unseat her from the post, disqualified her immediately as an MLA and can impact the Assembly elections due in 18 months.
Distancing herself from the United National Progressive Alliance floated by non-Congress and non-BJP parties a few months ago, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa on Thursday said there was "no such thing called the Third Front".
Deepa Gahlot lists Hindi biopics about Indian political leaders: Some worked, some did not, but they managed to avoid controversy.
Vijayakanth was unwell for quite some time and his wife Premalatha took over the reins of the party days ago.
Drawing the Centre's attention to the acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday asked it to reallocate to her state over 1,700 MW proposed to be surrendered by the Delhi government.
Claiming that the All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, headed by Jayalalithaa, would be isolated in the electoral arena, he said her hopes of weaning away the PMK to its fold would not succeed.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday announced walking out of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and said it would lead a separate front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, on Saturday deposed before a special court in Bengaluru in the wealth case against them, absolving the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo of any responsibility in the handling of companies in which the two were partners.
In a move to apparently woo All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Congress leader and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has offered an additional grant of over Rs 93 crore to her government, under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme. In a letter written to the CM, Ramesh mentions that the state government had utilised 60 per cent of the over Rs 273 crore allocated under the NRDWP.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear on March 19 AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa's plea seeking quashing of proceedings against her in a 14-year-old disproportionate assets case.
The Madras high court on Tuesday issued notice to All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa and government officials, on a petition by the Pattali Makkal Katchi accusing her of actuating the police to book its leaders and workers with a view to crush the party and sought a Special Investigation Team to look into all such cases.
Top Tamil actor Vijay on Friday announced the launch of his political party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, and said he will contest the 2026 assembly polls in the state.
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.
A record 74.4 per cent turnout of voters marked the bypoll to R K Nagar assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu, from where Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is seeking re-election.
The BJP state unit hailed Vasan and said his advice will be used in the coming days to guide the alliance.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will on Friday meet an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu to discuss the state administrations' concerns over the Kudankulam nuclear project. He will meet the delegation at his residence in 7 Race Course Road in Delhi to dispel apprehensions about the safety of the nuclear project. The delegation will be headed by Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Paneerselvam, who will present a memorandum to the prime minister.
'In Tamil Nadu we head the NDA, the BJP is a junior partner.' 'As long as they know that, all will be well.'
Terming the alleged tapping "shocking and outrageous," Jayalalithaa said it was "shocking" to see the level to which the central government "can sink in trying to settle scores with its political opponents".
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
A massive swing of 21.3 per cent in vote share propelled the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to coast to a resounding victory in 37 of the 39 seats leaving miles behind rivals including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Madras high court order allowing Edappadi K Palaniswami to continue as interim general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, establishing his position as the single, supreme leader of the party.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the 2015 bypoll in the same RK Nagar seat, she had declared total assets of Rs 117.13 crore.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
