Factionalism between OP Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, the dominance of the BJP, the ruling DMK having a strong face in the form of CM Stalin, 'community and region-based politics', corruption charges against former ministers, and lack of a proper ideology are the major challenges the party is facing in the state.
Though there was some delay in respect of a couple of flights, there was no major disruption in services, airport sources in Chennai said, adding even passengers who arrived late due to showers were allowed to board.
Declaring the organisational poll results to top two posts, party's election official C Ponnaiyan said Panneerselvam and Palaniswami were elected unanimously, without contest to the posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator respectively.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
O Panneerselvam should not be surprised if the current controversy that he has kicked off is used to rid him of the party coordinator's post, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
V K Sasikala, who was eased out of the AIADMK years ago, on Saturday paid homage at the mausoleum of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa here and cryptically remarked that she has 'unburdened' herself and the party has a bright future.
M Karunanidhi was a masterful practitioner of modern-day politics, wielding considerable influence beyond his own state, in the corridors of power in New Delhi, for a long time and sewing up alliances with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"In democracy, a political party cannot be stopped from functioning by sealing its office", observed the Supreme Court Monday as it dismissed the plea of ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) against the Madras high court order directing him to hand over the keys of party headquarter to party chief K Palaniswami.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
Sasikala's declaration of staying away from politics does not necessarily have to mean that she was retiring for good. She is only taking time to evaluate the post-poll chances of hers before digging in again, if possible, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
For Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dig up the perceived past of the DMK rival, now under a new leader in M K Stalin, may not gel with the voters, both old and new. If they are still going to vote for the AIADMK-BJP combine, it will be for entirely different reasons, and despite Modi's poll speeches, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
K Madhavan launched MGR Jayalalithaa DMK Kazhagam after paying his respects to Jayalalithaa and MGR at their memorials at the Marina beac
Arvind Swami will be seen as legendary star-politician M G Ramachandran aka MGR, Jayalalitha's mentor.
Neither the ruling DMK nor the fractured AIADMK Opposition anticipated that an assembly by-election would put them both to test, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The fracas between Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on Monday over who will be projected as the CM candidate in next year's assembly polls not only points to a possibility of another vertical split in Tamil Nadu's ruling party but will also come as sweet music for the opposition DMK which in the past stood to gain from the AIADMK's squabbles, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
A day after two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus was detected in the state, the Karnataka government on Friday ordered a probe into test reports of the 66-year-old South African national, that allowed him to leave the country.
The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
The death toll climbed to 4,74,111 after 159 fresh fatalities were reported, the data updated by the Union Health Ministry at 8 am showed.
The Madras high court on Wednesday set aside the proceedings of the Tamil Nadu revenue department locking and sealing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam headquarters in Chennai following the July 11 violence, and directed that the keys of the office be handed over to party chief K Palaniswami.
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.
Ponniyin Selvan has everything going for it, yet, there is something missing for a wholesome film experience, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On a day when her companion of close to a quarter century was anointed her successor, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits J Jayalalithaa's memorial on Marina Beach two months after her death.
As M Karunanidhi passed into the ages, we look back at some of the legendary scriptwriter's greatest movies.
Purohit eventually cleared them only after obtaining legal opinion from the state Advocate General.
As some BJP pollsters concede, the Modi leadership's sweeping success in elections 2019, especially across central India, owed not to Hindutva ideology, but to welfare schemes, all of them borrowed from Tamil Nadu, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
'The DMK may get a little more than 50% of the minority vote.' 'The AIADMK always gets over 10% of the minority vote.'
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.
If anyone is targeting Sasikala or the AIADMK, then they should be looking elsewhere, not at Deepa for leading a revolt successfully, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dinakaran recalled the difficulties faced by party workers in carrying forward their organisational work without a name.
'You have to understand the realities of Tamil Nadu politics before you decide if you want to be a politician,' A Ganesh Nadar advises the actor.
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
She faced intense and protracted struggle to eventually head the AIADMK.
Party insiders concede statements of the Raja kind have the potential to hurt the DMK's electoral chances in closely-fought seats in 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a state where Hindu social identity continues to remain in the overarching Dravida umbrella, the 'Hindutva' political identity does not have the same, or even near-similar electoral purchase, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Jayalalithaa could not do what MGR did, and Sasikala will not be able to do what Jayalalithaa did.'
Deepa filed her papers before polling officer Pravin Nair after paying respects at the memorial of Jayalalithaa.
Some movies of 2021 excelled in content but yet, they did not do well.
Bigil packs in enough entertainment in its three-hour running time, feels A Ganesh Nadar.
There is a sudden realisation in party circles that prolonged court cases could damage its standing, both among the cadres and voters, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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