Amid uproar over the Central Bureau of Investigation's raids against his son M K Stalin, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Thursday gave a guarded reaction on whether the action was a case of political vendetta. The DMK patriarch said it could be possible that the raids happened without the knowledge of the United Progressive Alliance government.
The attack comes against the backdrop of the actress's interview to a Tamil magazine in which she reportedly spoke about Stalin's elevation as heir-apparent.
Second-line AIADMK leaders and cadres alike say that by starting the talks first with the BJP and committing the party to an alliance without discussing seat-sharing, the leadership might have commenced the coalition discourse at the wrong end. According to them, even 20 seats for the BJP may be too many, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stating that she shared the concerns of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi regarding Sri Lankan Tamils issue, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has told him that she "shall take up the matter" with the external affairs minister.
Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council will be taken only after a discussion with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi.
Sibling rivalry in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to the fore for yet another time on Saturday, with the party high command dissolving a Madurai unit and replacing it with a temporary body dominated by supporters of its Treasurer M K Stalin.
M K Stalin might not have his father's charisma, but he has learnt the ropes the long, hard way, feels T E Narasimhan
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi on Wednesday sought the Centre's intervention in making Tamil a language of the court in Madras high court.
Former Union Communication Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham leader Dayanidhi Maran, who stepped down from his post in the wake of allegations of a scam in 2011, is leaving no stone unturned to retain the Chennai Central parliamentary seat which he won twice consecutively.
Launching his campaign for the Presidential election in which he appears set for a cakewalk, United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday appealed to all political parties to back his candidature, apparently eyeing Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Mukherjee met UPA's key partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's president M Karunanidhi at his residence in Chennai, formally kick-starting the campaign.
Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday accused the Jayalalithaa-led Tamil Nadu government of adopting 'double-standards' by opposing the Sethusamudram project in the Supreme Court and said it was a 'betrayal' of the state.
Insiders in AIADMK headquarters confirmed that Jayalalitha, now 67, has been unwell for the past two months and undergoing medical treatment in her home in Chennai. Of course, she attends office for three hours every morning, and also took the oath of affirmation as a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly last week.
The DMK will not regret parting company with the Congress as Karunanidhi knows that in this era of coalitions, it is impossible for the Congress-led government to seek a third term, given its track of record of scams. Even otherwise, the Congress has no base in Tamil Nadu where it has been out of power since 1967, says S Murari
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, a key ally of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, on Tuesday announced its participation in the nation-wide bandh on September 20 called by several non-UPA parties to protest the Centre's decision to hike diesel price, allow FDI in multi-brand retail and limit subsidised cooking gas.
He was a nine-time MLA, one-time Lok Sabha member and former finance minister of Tamil Nadu and a close friend of former Chief Minister late Karunanidhi.
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Monday condemned Dravida Munettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi for his 'outrageous' remarks against Indo-Sri Lanka relations at a pro-Eelam Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation meet.
AIADMK's Jayalalithaa won three assembly by-elections from her hospital bed. However, the DMK heir's decision to disempower second-line satraps, who were running personal fiefdoms in their districts, and his fresh approach, could prove beneficial in the next polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The BJP has become a reasonably larger force in Tamil Nadu in the last two years.'
This is the second time in a month that Minister of State in PMO Narayanasamy has met the DMK patriarch, whose party is the largest ally of Congress with 18 Lok Sabha members after the exit of Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.
"The protest is a big success and there is a wave of dissatisfaction against the government," DMK chief M Karunanidhi said claiming over two lakh party workers courted arrest but police put the figure at 85,000.
Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday slammed Left parties for reportedly trying to project Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as a candidate for the prime minister's post, saying that the move "is nothing but opportunistic slavery".
The Delhi high court on Tuesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate's pleas seeking an early hearing into the appeals challenging the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
'They have been imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
Taking a swipe at DMK president's statement that the party would take steps to implement prohibition if voted to power in the next elections, AIADMK said it was done with an eye on polls.
'The DMK may get a little more than 50% of the minority vote.' 'The AIADMK always gets over 10% of the minority vote.'
Renewing her demand that Sri Lankan airmen should not be trained anywhere in India, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday lambasted her arch rival and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi for not "exerting pressure" on the Centre on the issue despite being a key ally of the United Progressive Alliance.
Promising to espouse the cause of Tamils living the world over, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to press the Centre to take steps for conducting a referendum among Tamils in Lanka for their homeland and to appoint only Tamil envoys to nations which have a sizeable Diaspora.
Continuing to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his second day of campaign in Tamil Nadu, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged Chinese troops have occupied Indian territory and the man with '56 inch-chest' cannot even utter the name of the neighbouring country.
For quite some time, there was speculation that actor-politician Kamal Haasan-led Makkal Needhi Maiam and the DMK would sign up with the strategist for the 2021 assembly polls.
Backing Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday slammed the demand for his resignation in the wake of a high court order rejecting his plea for dismissal of a petition challenging his election to Lok Sabha, saying it would not be proper to make such a demand without charges being established beyond doubt.
In an apparent U-turn, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi rejected reports that he has threatened a pullout from the United Progressive Alliance government over the recent petrol price hike.
As leaders go, while Modi's visits to the state will be watched with curiosity, Rahul will need to be dislodged from the popular consciousness -- Tamil Nadu is one state where he's present, notes Aditi Phadnis.
As the moves to select the next incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan gain momentum, Dravida Munettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi is believed to have conveyed to Defence Minister A K Antony that he would go along with whoever was Congress President Sonia Gandhi's choice for the next President of the republic, despite his party's unhappiness with the Congress, writes Neerja Chowdhury
'Since the NDA took office in 2014, and aggressively since 2019, the Union government seems hell bent on centralising all power and resources, only to fail spectacularly.'
MK Stalin's ruling AIDMK rival does not thankfully face such problems as he did, but its problems could be worse if saner counsel does not prevail between now and the assembly polls, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was on Saturday unanimously elected as DMK president at the party's general council meeting in Chennai. He has been elected for the 10th consecutive term. When Stalin's name was announced, the general council members gave a standing ovation.
A few weeks ago, Karunanidhi had raised the issue of the central government's inability to intervene in the Sri Lankan Army's operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and threatened to withdraw from the UPA. On that occasion, a visit by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Chennai had defused the crisis. Karunanidhi has been advised to take complete rest for a week and all his engagements during this period have been postponed, according to an official release.
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
Justice Brijesh Sethi held that the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to Section 13 (1)(d) would not come to the rescue of the acquitted accused in this appeal.
Welcoming the government's decision to back the United States sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at United Nations Human Rights Council, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said his party had even decided to pull out its ministers from the United Progressive Alliance and extend issue based support to it in the event of its demand not being met.