The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, on Thursday announced that it will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu and that it has begun talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The central POTA review committee has asked the Tamil Nadu chief secretary to produce the papers relating to the Vaiko case on September 10
Advani said while POTA was enacted by the Centre, its implementation is vested with state governments.
About 300 protestors from parties like MDMK, Indian National League and Tamil National Movement courted arrest along with the two leaders near the Munroe statue in Chennai while trying to go ahead with the rally.
The Congress and DMK are in alliance in Tamil Nadu.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko on Monday, dubbed the photographs released by the Sri Lankan army which shows him with Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran as old ones and said there is an "ulterior motive" behind it.
In a statement in Chennai, he said the MDMK would not have "any issue in sacrificing two of its MP posts over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue." "The Centre should stop all military assistance to the island nation and ask the Lankan Government to continue peace talks (with LTTE) with the help of the Norwegian government to end the ethnic strife and establish a United Nations Office at Colombo," he said.
Disqualifying lawmakers of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for defying whip during the trust vote on July 22 will be the trickiest task for Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday expelled two dissident lawmakers of the party, L Ganesan and Gengee N Ramachandran, who defied the party whip and voted in favour of the trust motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha on July 22.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko, on a tour of the US, met Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, at a function at Chicago. In a brief meeting with Obama on Friday, Vaiko discussed about a book being authored by him on Obama and lauded the Democrat for his dynamism.
MDMK sources said Vaiko tentatively plans to leave for the US on June 3 and return on June 20
The outfit was banned in 1991 soon after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
A police complaint has been lodged at Barakhamba police station in Delhi, against 26 Opposition parties "for improper use of the name of INDIA and use of the said name for the undue influence and personation at elections."
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to drop his plan to visit Sri Lanka to participate in the National Day celebrations on February 4, alleging that Colombo had negated provisions of the Indo-Sri Lankan accord.
Vaiko and some others have charged with making pro-LTTE speeches. The LTTE is banned in India.
Sri Lanka is seeking naval assistance from India to curb the influx of arms into the island nation.
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's support to the formation of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka was only moral in nature and "to show the world that Eelam Tamils are not orphans," party leader Vaiko said on Thursday night.
Vaiko has said the Tamils deserve a nation of their own.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has passed the buck to the House Privilege Committee to wriggle out of the tricky issue of two petitions by the rival groups of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, seeking disqualification of each other's MPs for defying whip on the trust vote on July 22.
He had entered Chennai along with 3,000 supporters, despite a ban, to conclude his 42-day 'Renaissance March'.
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.
Designated Judge L Rajendran said the bail would be operative only after Vaiko files an affidavit agreeing to the\n\nterms laid down by the court.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister said MDMK's Kannappan was openly supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
Ahead of the Winter Session in Parliament, leaders of 11 opposition parties met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
Both the parties were not represented at the opposition meeting that decided on fielding Alva as their consensus candidate, but Pawar had said that he is in touch with both TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP convener and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
After an initial close fight, AINRC managed to win only eight seats, including the Indira Nagar constituency by party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
The BJP state unit hailed Vasan and said his advice will be used in the coming days to guide the alliance.
Pro-Tamil outfits like Periyar Dravida Iyakkam and 'May 17 movement' celebrated the birth anniversary in various parts of the city by cutting cakes and distributing sweets.
The workers, who cleaned the statue, demanded the arrest of the culprits and warned that they would intensify their agitation if such incidents recurred, police said.
M K Alagiri, the disgruntled son of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi, has reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party with an offer of support in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday lauded his arch political rival -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa -- for her decision to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
If proven guilty by judge Michael d'Cunha, Jayalalithaa and her aides -- Sasikakala Natrajan, Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi -- could face up to six years in jail.
A political realignment seems to be on the cards in Tamil Nadu, with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reaching out to its former leader and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder Vaiko.
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
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