Is the unusually and unbearably scorching Sun and the general laxity, bordering on laziness, among voters, responsible, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu now has India's lowest fertility rate - lower than Australia, Finland and Belgium - second best infant mortality and maternal mortality rate; records among the lowest crime rates against women and children; and has more factories and provides more industrial employment than any other Indian state.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had a long conversation over the current situation in Sri Lanka, a State Department official has said.
The former chief minister of Tamil Nadu meets the bridal couple.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers on Sunday organised poojas in temples and took out processions praying for a favourable judgement.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
In a one-horse race, ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by Jayalalithaa on Friday inflicted a crushing defeat on its arch-rival DMK, Congress and BJP-led six-party alliance, winning 4 seats and establishing unassailable leads in 33 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.
"I don't understand her rush to become the chief minister. Does she not understand the situation in Tamil Nadu?" The battle between O Panneerselvam and Sasikala continues
One of the leading political analysts in Tamil Nadu, Gnani Shankaran speaks to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com from Trichy on the Jayalalithaa verdict.
After suffering successive defeats in elections since 2004, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa has made a spectacular comeback in Tamil Nadu by shedding her rigid attitude and cobbling up a formidable alliance with once-not-so friendly actor Vijayakant and the Left parties.
An "offensive" article on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa published on the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website with an accompanying graphic image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked up a storm in India which acted with "alacrity" on Friday to force the island nation to tender an unqualified apology.
Even as an enthused AIADMK cadre celebrate their Amma's return, if the Supreme Court stays the Karnataka high court judgment in the disproportionate assets case, Jayalalithaa may once again lose her chief ministership. R Ramasubramanian reports from Chennai.
Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
Will Vijay will go the most successful MGR/Jayalalithaa way, or that of Vijayakanth, Seeman or Kamalahaasan, or will he end up as another Rajinikanth who cries wolf at the last minute and quits the scene even before it all had really begun, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah on Saturday invited Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to form the government after she apprised him of her election as leader of All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam Legislature Party.
Earlier, counsel for Jayalalithaa, N Jothi, MP, asked the judge to provide her with copies of the 2000-page charge sheet.
Nariman received the Padma Bhushan in January 1991 and in 2007, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.
Shortly after taking over as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa on Monday implemented her major poll promises of rice to ration card holders and BPL families, gold mangalsutra for girls getting married and carried out a major shake-up in the state police set-up.
Celebrities led the way in coming out to cast their vote during the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Welcoming the "comprehensive and inclusive" roadmap of the Narendra Modi government on various issues spelt out by President Pranab Mukherjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday said it had raised expectations on performance and delivery against the ambitious goals that the government has set for itself.
Violence broke out in several parts of Tamil Nadu today after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a graft case with angry All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supporters indulging in stone pelting and arson and forcing closure of shops.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa could not "satisfactorily account" for immovable properties and pecuniary resources of the value of Rs 53.6 crore when she was the Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, the Special Court that sentenced her to four years in jail has held.
Stepping up her campaign for former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma's candidature for Presidency, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa on Sunday contacted top leaders of several non-Congress parties including Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani, seeking their support to the tribal leader.
By almost unilaterally announcing her party's support for the candidature of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma for the President's post, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalithaa has queered the pitch and made it that much more difficult the search for a common opposition candidate.
Madani has asked for ayurvedic treatment to be provided to him.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and three others on appeals filed against Karnataka high court order acquitting them in a disproportionate assets case.
In a major setback to former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay the trial against her in a 14-year-old disproportionate assets case being heard in Karnataka. A bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy, however, directed the trial court to fix a time-frame for cross examination of the 42 witnesses after giving sufficient opportunity to Jayalalithaa. The apex court passed the order by dismissing the Special Leave Petition.
Former captain Arjuna Ranatunga slammed his cricket Board and government's decision to allow Lankan players to participate in the IPL, terming it an endorsement of human rights abuse charges against Sri Lanka.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with spearheading investor-friendly initiatives, saying it will "enthuse" businesses planning to invest in states.
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.
In a shake-up in her cabinet, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday sacked three ministers and inducted an equal number, all of them first-time MLAs.
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.
Taking a potshot at arch rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said while he had demanded that India should not take part in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, he kept mum on Lankan cricketers playing in an IPL team owned by his family.
The governor enquired "about the general administration of the affairs of the government," a Raj Bhavan release said.
With Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran coming under the Central Bureau of Investigation's scanner in the 2G scam, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday demanded that he should be dropped from the Union Cabinet immediately.
Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran sought to play down party's decision.
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.
The Centre on Thursday rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's charge that non-Congress ruled states were discriminated against at the National Development Council meet and said that no leader should make political capital at such events.
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'.