Allowing 12-hour shifts for all and night-time work for women was meant to benefit software firms, but is said to have clinched Foxconn's Rs 80 billion investment.
'"Pakistan will come and bite you" doesn't work here.'
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has returned bills sent to him by the government for his assent and the state is all set to get them passed again in a special sitting of the assembly on November 18.
R Rajagopalan predicts that Tamil Nadu won't have single party rule for the first time in its history.
Postal ballot facility for eligible overseas Indian electors cannot be extended for the upcoming assembly polls as the matter is still under discussion with the Ministry of External Affairs to iron out logistical challenges in implementing the proposal, Lok Sabha was informed.
'The financial situation of Tamil Nadu is much worse than it was in 2016.' 'The finance minister's is a horrendous job.' 'I am certainly not going to ask for it.'
In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the Tamil Nadu electorate having given him an unprecedented mandate that had eluded his father the late M Karunanidhi, Stalin has to prove his worth, ensuring at the same time that the Dravidian drag on the AIADMK's side does not open up space for the BJP to make inroads in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'One quiver cannot have two different kinds of arrows.' 'The party cannot progress with two leaders.'
The Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu, an invocation sung in praise of mother Tamil, as the state anthem and directed that all present during its rendition should remain standing.
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.
Bedlam erupted in the House for a few minutes and continued till all BJP members staged a walkout in protest.
The meeting was attended by 26 participants including Chief Ministers and Lt Governors of UTs, he said while briefing the media.
Promising to positively consider several representations of Christians including site for cemetries, Palaniswami, in an apparent reference to his party's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for assembly polls likely in April, said electoral tie-ups were different from ideology.
Among the long queues of voters, there were some famous faces too who exercised their franchise.
'They have been imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
Stalin called on Ravi at the Raj Bhavan here and urged him to expeditiously send the Bill to exempt Tamil Nadu from the purview of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for getting Presidential assent, an official release said.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the respective legislative assemblies.
Sowmiya Anbumani is the president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO involved in conservation of nature.
Singh made the remarks while addressing a "CEOs' Roundtable" at the 14th edition of Aero India at the Yelahanka Air Force station complex on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Annamalai has faced criticism for the breakup between the AIADMK and the BJP, but BJP leaders say 'he attracts youth, who needs change'.
Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan would make his electoral debut, contesting from Coimbatore South constituency in the April 6 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
The meeting of the newly-elected MLAs to elect the legislature party leader, the second within three days, reportedly saw exchanges on who should lead the party in the House with one section pitching for Palaniswami and the other for coordinator O Panneerselvam.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday allotted six constituencies to ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi for the April 6 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
A new entrant, whether a popular actor or not, has not been able to sweep the polls, as their fans had hoped for. Given a proven pattern, it should hold true for Vijay as well. Or, something drastically has to happen between now and 2026, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
For a party that has adopted the successful social re-engineering model from Gujarat, Rajasthan and across the rest of the 'Hindi belt' over the past decades, Tamil Nadu continues to remain a tricky customer, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Kamal Haasan always appeared to be quick to strike, but afraid to wound.' 'What he is offering the people of Tamil Nadu is not clear, but whatever it is, it will be a fresh element in the state's politics,' says Aditi Phadnis.
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.
Stalin claimed that in a few months political change will take place and then the NEET barriers will come crashing down.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
The new entrants in Tamil Nadu politics, actor-turned-politicians Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, have decided to stay away from the elections, reports T E Narasimhan.
Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes when DMK members strongly protested remarks made by a ruling AIADMK member apparently ridiculing Leader of Opposition M K Stalin, culminating in their en masse eviction and suspension.
Ravi, shifted from Nagaland, said he saw his new role more as an opportunity than a challenge.
