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.
Upset over the naming of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G scam charge sheet, United Progressive Alliance's key ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Monday decided to convene a high-level committee meeting on Wednesday to plan its future course of action.
Rejecting charges of irregularities in allotment of land under discretionary quota, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday hit back at Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy for seeking sanction for his prosecution on the issue, saying he was trying to "twist facts".
Rejecting charges of his involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday issued a legal notice to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, demanding retraction of his 'statement' linking him to the scam within 24 hours.
After a meeting with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said the arrest of Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case would not have any impact on the ties between the two parties but insisted that the government would not interfere in the case.
The DMK and PMK on Friday clinched an alliance for the coming Tamil Nadu assembly polls, under which the ruling party's junior partner has been allotted 31 assembly seats. The deal was finalised at a meeting between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss in Chennai. Karunanidhi, announcing the accord at the end of the nearly 90-minute meeting with his former ally, said the two parties had decided to fight the elections jointly.
Karunanidhi, who has always appeased Azhagiri when elections were around the corner, while pampering and promoting Stalin at all times and costs, will find Azhagiri hard to please this time around.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, in its second chargesheet filed on Monday, named Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and several others for allegedly getting benefits out of the allocation of 2G spectrum to certain telecom firms.
Ending days of suspense, Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi on Sunday announced that the Paatali Makkal Katchi will be part of the party-led alliance for the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in May.Arriving in New Delhi on a three-day visit, Karunanidhi said he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties.
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.
This is the impression gaining ground in Congress circles here ahead of the emergency meeting of the DMK's high-level Action Committee.
Amid reports that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Union Minister M K Alagiri has submitted his resignation from the Union Cabinet to party president Karunanidhi, DMK leader TR Baalu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to discuss "alliance matters".
Upset over the arrest of Kanimozhi in 2G scam, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday said he was in a position like that of any father whose daughter faced a similar situation for no fault of hers and said the party general council would decide on future ties with Congress.
The biggest significance of Friday night's statement from Chief Minister Karunanidhi is that this is the first time in many months that the DMK has spoken openly about the alliance and negotiations in public.
As counting is on in the five states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal -- here's a look at where the heavyweights stand.
Dayalu Ammal, wife of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and additional director of Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, has told the Central Bureau of Investigation that she was not aware of the source of Rs 200 crore which came to the channel in which she has 60 per cent share.
The nearly two month-long grueling campaigning in peak summer for the May 16 Tamil Nadu assembly election that is witnessing a multi-cornered contest comes to an end on Saturday.
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.
Against the backdrop of frequent attacks against Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to advise Colombo in 'strong terms' to refrain from such 'uncalled for attacks'. Karunanidhi, who arrived in Delhi on a three-day visit on Sunday, met Dr Singh at his 7, Race Course Road residence and took up the issue of recent 'brutal attacks' by the Sri Lankan Navy on fishermen from TN.
Enraged over the repeated attacks on the party by his elder son and suspended leader M K Alagiri, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday expelled him from the party.
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.
Telephone calls from Congress ministers at the Centre, including Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on behalf of the party high command may have forced Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi to seal the fate of Union Telecom Minister A Raja, who was asked to resign after he landed in Delhi last night.
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.
Azad said the "discussion of election strategy was the main purpose."
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.
Karunanidhi said he was 'totally surprised' to see an announcement that EC had not prevented the state government from implementing the ongoing schemes.
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the latest pilgrimage site in Chennai: J Jayalalitha's final resting place.
The Centre has allowed slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Prabhakaran's mother Parvathi Ammal to visit Tamil Nadu for medical treatment on certain conditions, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said on Monday. The Union government's decision has been conveyed through a letter to the Indian mission in Kuala Lumpur where she is staying at present, Karunanidhi said in a suo motu statement in the state assembly.
With the acquittal of arch rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa coming as a reversal for it, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam top brass on Monday went into a huddle to work on a political and legal strategy following the development.
Asserting that the Tamil Nadu government had no role in the Friday's deportation of Parvathi, mother of slain LTTE leader V Prabhakaran, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday said that the state would write to the Centre on allowing her for medical treatment, if she insisted.
"If journalists in Coimbatore want me to quit, you fix a date and I will do so," he said at a press conference in Coimbatore at the end of the five day world classical Tamil conference, his pet project.
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.
Alagiri's remarks reignited the succession war that appeared to have been settled with the promotion of his younger sibling M K Stalin as deputy chief minister last year by Karunanidhi, with Alagiri himself being promoted to national politics after being inducted into the Union Cabinet.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday asked the Centre to grant permanent residential status to over 1.6 lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in the state.
Asserting that his father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was his leader, Union Minister M K Alagiri said on Thursday that he would stand for the party president's post in future if there was a contest.
Celebrities and politicians made a beeline for polling stations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as both the states go to the polls on Monday.
Considering that all sides to the game feel being targeted by the BJP-ruled Centre through taxmen and their ED/CBI counterparts, both factions may not rule out the possibility of patching up after a time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Acknowledging that the Union government had its own pressures in increasing petrol and diesel prices, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose party DMK is a key UPA ally, said on Wednesday that it would persuade the Centre to roll back the prices.
