Amid furore created by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members in Parliament for the second day running, the government on Tuesday admitted that a Supreme Court collegium during the United Progressive Alliance rule had recommended extension of a judge in Tamil Nadu who was under corruption cloud.
Combative Congress members, upset over the National Herald case, on Tuesday paralysed Parliament protesting against alleged "vendetta politics" leading to repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha.
We (the AIADMK government) are going to implement the programmes initiated by Amma (Jayalalithaa) in our remaining term of four-and-a-half-years. "Now a stable government is in place in the state. You will see a new era of development to realise the dreams of Amma under the guidance of Chinnamma (Sasikala)," he said.
While followers of both Palaniswami (EPS) and Panneerselvam (OPS) were engaged in backroom negotiations to mobilise the support of party functionaries for their respective leaders, parleys continued as well to resolve the bickering well ahead of the June 23 General Council meeting.
Parliament has passed a bill to extend the tenure of the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to a maximum of five years from the present two years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had initially taken a conciliatory stand on the issue with a minister even going as far as to tell rediff.com that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not indulge in petty politics on this issue. The party had left the final decision to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports
The CM, along with Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, met the PM at his office in Parliament House.
The speaker had suspended 45 members last week for unruly behaviour.
The prime minister was often seen vigorously thumping the desk, prompting his Cabinet colleagues and NDA MPs to follow suit.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief VK Sasikala has met visitors 12 times in a month at the Parappana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru.
Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu's failure to communicate to the Communist Party of India - Marxist that he would attend the proposed anti-communalism convention on October 30 suggests he is actively considering joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in a post-poll alliance.
Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai appealed to the newly appointed party general secretary V K Sasikala to become Tamil Nadu chief minister, saying the leadership in both the party and governance should be with the same person.
Jaya has been hospitalised since September 22, is interacting and progressing gradually.
On the face of it, the first round has gone to Edappadi K Palaniswami. Not only has he been named chief ministerial candidate, that too by his one-time bete noire Panneerselvam, he also gets one member more in the steering committee than OPS. He can now hope to wean away one or more members of the OPS team in the steering committee just as he had done with other leaders in the latter's camp, post-reunification. That was also OPS's concern, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In what can be called as a major hint towards sewing up an unprecedented merger between two warring factions, the Sasikala and the O Panneerselvam groups of the All Anna India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam met on late Monday night in Chennai.
Sasikala, clad in a light green saree with a pink border, greeted supporters with folded hands. She rode to the party office in the car used by Jayalalithaa.
Political parties united to accuse Bhagwant Mann, a lawmaker from AAP, of compromising Parliament security.
The government on Monday slammed Congress leader Kamal Nath for his remarks that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's decision on the issue of grant of Leader of Opposition status could be "flavoured" by BJP, saying it is "unfortunate" as the Speaker is above party lines.
Palaniswami said, "I will take up with PM Narendra Modi the demands put forward by the farmers. I urge them to end this protest."
At a time when many Lok Sabha candidates are declaring assets worth crores, 14 candidates in the poll fray in Tamil Nadu, mostly independents, have declared zero assets. They are among 845 candidates of well-established political entities, among whom are 14 contestants with high liabilities of more than Rs five crore, as per an analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms-Tamil Nadu Election Watch.
Party spokesperson said while Jaya was the "conscience" of her mentor M G Ramachandran, Sasikala was, likewise, her "conscience."
... if high oil prices persist or stock prices correct sharply.
Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also listed in the memorandum.
It is thanks to these internal differences that the much-awaited merger between the two factions has not made any headway so far, reports R Rajagopalan.
Keeping their eyes on the assembly elections, the BJP has been trying to win favour with the southern regional parties, observes R Rajagopalan
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and some other members sought that the bill be referred to a standing committee for scrutiny.
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
'Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them'
Singh also said that lynching incidents have been happening for years and mentioned that the biggest lynchings happened in 1984.
Opposition stalled proceedings of the Lok Sabha seeking an apology from M Venkaiah Naidu.
The TDP and the YSR Congress forced brief adjournments of Lok Sabha proceedings demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
Panneerselvam also wanted withdrawal of affidavits submitted to the Election Commission declaring Sasikala and Dinakaran as party general secretary and deputy general secretary, respectively.
"It is all your imagination and guess work," a senior leader said when asked about reports of Sasikala taking over from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
He also launched 70-lakh tree sapling planting drive to commemorate the 70th birth anniversary celebrations of late Jayalalithaa.
Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig.
Facing the opposition benches, it is the 11th portrait to adorn the House.
Sasikala appeared in front of supporters in a dark green sari, a colour greatly favoured by Jayalalithaa.
'If the Congress is to challenge the NDA government, Rahul Gandhi will have to shed his indifference to Parliament, become more visible and vocal and, essentially, lead from the front,' says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
A Ganesh Nadar captures the mood and scenes from outside the hall in Vaanagaram where Sasikala was appointed as the new party chief.
Karunanidhi, 94, died at the Kauvery hospital on Tuesday following prolonged illness.
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