It is the third party in Tamil Nadu, after DMK and MDMK, to quit the BJP-led alliance.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister may have opened a Pandora's Box on the religion front with the appointment of qualified non-Brahmin temple priests, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The decision comes after the May 7, 2004, instruction of the state government to the public prosecutor to consider withdrawal of the cases.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko had demanded the lifting of the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister said MDMK's Kannappan was openly supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Tamil Nadu has around 30 per cent or more of 'swing voters', and it is this segment that will swing the pre-poll alliance decision, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
Udhayanidhi's ascension in the party is seen as a precursor to him being given key roles in the DMK in future which is now helmed by his 66-year old father Stalin.
Taking strong exception to Central Board of Secondary Education's Sanskrit Week celebrations in schools under its ambit next month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday said it would be appropriate to have organised a 'Classical Language Week' in each state based on its linguistic heritage.
New Union minister L Murugan's declaration of Kongu Nadu as his native place, instead of Tamil Nadu, may be part of a grand BJP strategy to create new states out of existing ones, particularly those that have anti-BJP governments, mulls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Known for its fireworks and printing units, Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency in southern Tamil Nadu is witnessing an absorbing battle of ballot in a five-cornered contest featuring among others Vaiko of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Protester Sasi Perumal's death has given a new fillip to the pro-prohibition movement, which was beginning to draw attention across Tamil Nadu after different political parties began to make it a part of their poll manifesto for next year, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
As political rivals clamour to retain their pan-Tamil credentials, the BJP may use the 'nationalist' card to even the odds in its favour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
An engraved 'Bhagavad Gita' near the statue of late president A P J Abdul Kalam kicked up a controversy, with his family seeking to end the row by placing a copy of the Quran and Bible near it.
In the midst of huge job losses as a fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has signed 17 MoUs for an investment of Rs 15,100 crores that aim to provide 47,100 jobs. But a clearer picture on where the projects stand will emerge only after the Covid-19 induced fear psychosis ends, to see if popular protests will derail them like they have done so many others, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Without strategising together, Jayalalithaa's successor, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, and M Karunanidhi's son-cum-successor, M K Stalin, have used tough-talking on seat-sharing with allies, to replace charisma that they purportedly lacked, during the run-up to the assembly polls scheduled for April 6, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Given the subdued pre-poll voter-behaviour in the state over the past couple of decades and more, and the inability of individual political parties to cobble together an alliance and announce candidates, or both, to launch grassroots-level campaigns early on, close fights with landslide victory is an equal possibility, N Sathiyamoorthy.
However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu on February 8, there are some important questions facing her. One, does she carry electoral weight more now than her brainchild AMMK had in the 2019 LS polls? Two, can she retain or build upon the five per cent vote-share from that time? And finally, is there space for Sasikala to retrieve, first within the AIADMK and then across the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Centre's move to celebrate Teachers' Day as 'Guru Utsav' and the planned interaction of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with school children on that day have kicked up a controversy with opposition Congress and others, including Bharatiya Janata Party allies Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Pattali Makkal Katchi, slamming the government.
'For the Tamil Nadu protestors to openly ask popular film actor Vijay Sethupathi not to don Murali in 800 is a travesty in every sense. It may have given them a cause to tell the world, and the governments in New Delhi, Colombo and Chennai, that the Sri Lankan ethnic issue was still alive in the state -- more so, during the current run-up to two major events in the first half of 2021,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Opposing the invitation extended to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko on Friday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and demanded that the party should 'avoid' the presence of Mahinda Rajapaksa at Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
Security has been beefed up at Karunanidhi's Gopalapuram residence as DMK cadre kept pouring in there.
Congress nominee from Sivaganga and Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram says he has been working for the party since 1996.
R Rajagopalan predicts that Tamil Nadu won't have single party rule for the first time in its history.
What will the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government do to answer the queries and fears of investors who will want to be doubly sure they would not be harassed at a later date, as has been happening to Sterlite, should be interesting to watch, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress on Monday joined other opposition parties, including the DMK and the PMK, in boycotting the June 27 by-election.
At 70, going by hospital records made public, most age and health-related arguments put out against super-star Rajinikanth's entry into politics, before he withdrew citing a 2016 kidney-transplant, hold good for Sasikala, too, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Scores of volunteers belonging to the leftist of Democratic Youth Federation of India were detained on Saturday after they tried to stage a road blockade outside the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to protest the derecognition of a students' group for allegedly criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as some political parties expressed concern over 'threats' to freedom of expression.
With DMK's M K Stalin coming into his own, and the rival AIADMK too leaving no space for third parties, Tamil Nadu will remain a Dravidian stronghold for a long time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP's parliamentary board, which held a meeting at 11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had inconclusive deliberations about the alliance of the southern states on Friday.
The announcement was made by AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal, party election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, who described it as a "mega alliance".
How will DMDK's decision to join the People's Democratic Front affect the political scenario in TN.
No one at this point no one in the state is talking about a clean sweep with high victory margins that the AIADMK front won in the 2011 assembly elections. The 'Modi factor', as against a 'Modi wave', has ensured as much, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Consultations within the Bharatiya Janata Party on government formation gained momentum on Friday with Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi holding a long meeting with party chief Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders.
Farmers and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu on Monday staged rail roko agitation at various places in the state demanding the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board immediately.
Subramanian Swamy stole the BJP thunder in Tamil Nadu by meeting DMDK's Vijaykanth in Chennai, and his efforts seem to have paid off, at least in the interim, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Puducherry has been battered by heavy rains since the beginning of November and officials have assessed that such a quantum of downpour had not been seen in the last 100 years.
The BJP's hobnobbing with M K Alagiri and ally Vaiko's controversial demands has the potential to rock the BJP's boat in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
