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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
M K Stalin might not have his father's charisma, but he has learnt the ropes the long, hard way, says T E Narasimhan
Terming grant of bail in the 2G case as the "first step", Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi on Saturday said she would prove her innocence and get out of the case legally.
Karunanidhi submitted to Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the state, a memorandum, accusing Kerala of having created a situation where "people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been instigated to fight against each other like people of two different countries."
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.
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.
His maiden tweet read "citizens should voice own views for a strong Tamil Nadu and integral India".
Differing with his government's stand of abstaining from voting in UNHRC on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said New Delhi should have supported it.
In the backdrop of Dayanidhi Maran's exit from the Union cabinet over the 2G scam issue, senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday discussed the current political situation with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi and asserted that the alliance between the two parties would be strengthened.
'They have been imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhaga on Monday charged Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi with having encroached on some land behind his Gopalpuram residence and said legal action would be taken in this regard and in similar cases detected by the government government.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's political rivals are sharply divided over appealing against her acquittal in a disproportionate assets case that saw her return to power for a fifth time two days ago.
Jayalalithaa and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday crossed swords over Tamil Nadu putting on hold the Hogenakkal water project, with the AIADMK supremo alleging that the DMK leader was expecting a cabinet berth for his daughter M P Kanimozhi, prompting him to take the decision.The former chief minister also said that Karunanidhi had betrayed the interests of the state and demanded his resignation.But Karunanidhi refuted the charge.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers would thwart any move by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to "usurp" the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam, alleged to have been built on grabbed land, DMK chief M Karunanidhi said on Friday night.
An elated Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday expressed happiness over his daughter Kanimozhi getting bail in the 2G case and said the party would organise a big welcome for her, when she comes home.
In a candid admission four months after his party's rout in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday said internal differences and the activities of some party men resulted in the "very huge defeat."
Ahead of next week's crucial general council meeting, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is at the crossroads with differences among Karunanidhi family members over the succession issue, threatening to make the two-day meet at Coimbatore a stormy affair.
'The BJP has become a reasonably larger force in Tamil Nadu in the last two years.'
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
Hitting back at Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat for allegedly calling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam a 'family controlled party', Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday sought to turn the tables on the communist leader, reminding him that his wife is working with him in their party.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi, his son M K Stalin. and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam chief Vijayakanth spent far less than the limit set by the Election Commission for poll-related expenses during the April 13 assembly elections.
Four and a half crore voters will decide the fate of 2,773 candidates.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday re-nominated sitting MP M Kanimozhi, daughter of party president M Karunanidhi as its candidate for the June 27 Rajya Sabha elections for six seats, hoping to drum up support from other parties to ensure a second term for her.
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.
'The DMK may get a little more than 50% of the minority vote.' 'The AIADMK always gets over 10% of the minority vote.'
Reflecting further strains in his party's ties with Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Karunanidhi has blamed the Centre for the arrest of his daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case.
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.
Strongly defending the freebies doled out by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday said it did not come at the cost of developmental schemes.
The petitioner also sought to restrain Karunanidhi from signing any record as chief minister, pending disposal of his petition.
The overall message of the assembly election is certainly anti-UPA insofar as it was the endless series of corruption scams that determined the 2011 outcome, says Virendra Kapoor
The stalemate in seat sharing talks between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress for the April 13 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu persisted with All India Congress Commitee president Sonia Gandhi's special emissary Ghulam Nabi Azad leaving for New Delhi on Thursday after his inconclusive talks with DMK chief M Karunanidhi.