As the mercury keeps moving up in the wake of rising temperature, poll fever is also soaring northward in Tamil Nadu which will witness a fierce fight for the 39 Lok Sabha seats between ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, even as a six-party BJP-led alliance is trying to play spoilsport.
It appears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being very responsive to Jayalalithaa's demands, be it on the secure release of the abducted Tamil Nadu priest to the fishermen's issue with Sri Lanka, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa was acquitted on Monday by the Karnataka high court in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case, a verdict that is sure to put her back in the Tamil Nadu chief minister's seat.
The Srirangam assembly seat, a traditional stronghold of the AIADMK that has elected the party nominees six times since 1977, is witnessing an interesting contest between Jayalalithaa, a two-time chief minister, and a political novice N Anand, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam nominee.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa was on Friday unanimously elected its legislature party leader, paving the way for her return as a chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fourth time.
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Madras high court on Thursday expressed doubts over the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in response to a petition filed by a member of her party.
In a statement, she said nobody could disqualify or bar her from contesting future polls.
Protests by supporters of ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and several other outfits, including party affiliated trade unions intensified across the state against the conviction of Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, seeking her early release.
Taking the war of freebies to a new high, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam manifesto for the April 13 assembly elections on Thursday promised 20 kg of free rice for ration card-holders, laptops for students from classes XI, free fans, mixers and grinders to all and mineral water to BPL families. In a bid to woo women voters, Jayalalithaa promised four gm of gold for the 'thali' (mangalsutra) free of cost to the poor, besides cable TV connections at subsidised rate
The political stability that Tamil Nadu saw under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa may be a thing of the past, as the new administration struggles to find its feel, says R Rajagopalan.
On the first day at her office, J Jayalalithaa cleared seven files.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka government's decision to remove the special public prosecutor in a disproportionate assets case against her.
The hospital's Chief Operating Officer Subbiah Viswanathan said in a short press release that respiratory support "is being closely watched and adjusted."
Of all the chief ministers who have protested against the proposed creation of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in the Intelligence Bureau of the government of India with effect from March 1, 2012 without consulting the state governments, only J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has got it right, says B Raman.
As former telecom minister A Raja secured bail in the 2G spectrum case, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said the case appeared to be getting "diluted". Jayalalithaa was replying to a question from reporters on a Delhi court granting bail to Raja, the prime accused in the case, 15 months after he was sent to jail.
Residents of RK Nagar in Chennai will get a glimpse of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on June 22 when she begins -- and most likely ends -- her campaign to contest the RK Nagar assembly seat.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Voicing her serious concern over increasing attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said such assaults on Indian citizens should be viewed as "an act of provocation and aggression against India." Jayalalithaa conveyed her sentiments to Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who called on her in Chennai ahead of his three-day Colombo visit beginning on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's infection is fully under control but her discharge from hospital depended on her progress, Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap C Reddy said on Saturday.
DMK General Secretary's sought removal of the PP alleging he has not been impartial.
Slamming Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi for announcing his party's withdrawal from the United Progressive Alliance over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday described it as a 'drama'.
A court in Chennai on Tuesday adjourned to June 9 the income tax return cases against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her aide Sasikala for their appearance.
The incidents of arrests of fishermen and the recent firing should be viewed as an "indirect attempt to intimidate India and browbeat it into not raising its voice" against Sri Lanka on the innocent Tamils there in the international fora which is highly unacceptable, she said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
CBI sources said Jayalalithaa received 89 demand drafts worth Rs 2 crore drawn on various banks in Tamil Nadu and purchased in the names of 57 people, besides Rs 15 lakh in cash.
Grand birthday celebrations for Jayalalithaa
Bypoll in RK Nagar previously scheduled for April 12, 2017 was subsequently cancelled by the EC following allegations of bribing of voters.
In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
Seeking strong diplomatic action from the Centre for release of 28 Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday said the Centre should "not" treat the International Maritime Boundary Line with the island nation as a settled question, as it is a subject matter of litigation in the Supreme Court.
The CBI has asked the Speaker for permission.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday said her government had overcome 'various hurdles' to secure 66 tmcft of Cauvery water as she asked partymen to help secure all 40 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls to ensure the state has a greater say at national level.
A separate relief package for affected farmers would be announced expeditiously.\n
The Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated the stay on trial proceedings against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, seeking the quashing of a disproportionate assets case, the trial in which is to commence in Karnataka.
Jayalalithaa's residence affected by waterlogging
Now that Tamil Nadu's tallest politician is no more, it remains to be seen how new political re-alignments could shape up, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"This election has upheld true democracy shattering to pieces the campaign of lies of DMK. This election has put a permanent full stop to the family rule," she said.
The special court in Bangalore adjourned on Wenesday, the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case hearing against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to August 26 in the wake of the Supreme Court order staying the joint trial.
The BJP's strategy seem to be to wean away allies from the Congress, in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, and maybe later in UP, Bihar and elsewhere, though in slow doses, but without wooing them into a new alliance. The idea seems to be only to weaken the INDIA bloc from within -- and leaving it at that, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The others have been looting the people all these years. If you don't do that, you can do a lot for the people,' says Tamil star politician Vijayakanth.
