Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress on Wednesday released the second list of office-bearers and executive committee members of its Tamil Nadu unit, prominent among them being Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti.
After casting his vote, Thirunavukarasar, also an MP, said the elections are being held in a transparent manner and Kharge is the most favourite of the two -- the other being Shashi Tharoor.
Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
Stalin, along with cadres of the DMK and other parties, came in a procession in Tiruvarur and was detained in a marriage hall, police said, adding they will be let off later.
IPO bound HMIL, which is also from South Korea, had faced severe labour unrest for nearly a decade till the realisation -- a worker's union cannot be avoided -- dawned on it.
The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee on Friday said it does not agree with Chief Minister MK Stalin demanding the Centre to set free the seven Rajiv Gandhi assassination case life convicts and denounced what it called 'political pressure.'
The work on seat sharing with other allies will begin from Thursday, he told reporters.
Even as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's general council meeting got underway in Chennai on Monday morning, endorsing Edappadi K Palaniswami as the interim general secretary, the rival O Panneerselvam faction staged a well-planned coup at the party headquarters in Royapettah, central Chennai.
The DMK chief, recalling the origin of the recent differences, said Algiri had issued a statement that Congress was allocated lesser number of president and vice-president seats (in indirect polls) to head district panchayats and panchayat unions.
It was decided by Tamil Nadu Congress to push for at least 45 seats and in a worst case scenario climb down a few seats and conclude the deal and it has worked out as was expected.
The Tamil Nadu Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 2024, which shall come into force on such date as notified by the government, aims to completely eradicate the menace of illicit liquor from the state.
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
The state government's move comes following stiff opposition.
The first round of talks were described as "cordial" by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K V Thangkabalu, who is part of the five-member DMK panel which has Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin among other members.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday launched the first election campaign at his birth place Thiruvaroor in Tamil Nadu, which many believed was a lackluster show.
Replying to a question on reports of the BJP demanding 50 seats from the ruling AIADMK, Murugan said a statement on the continuation of the alliance was made by the party's top leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami two days ago.
Always interesting, DMK politics is going to get even more absorbing in the days to come, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Sowmiya Anbumani is the president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO involved in conservation of nature.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
Joining leaders of various political parties in Tamil Nadu voicing their concern over training of Sri Lankan airmen, Union Minister G K Vasan on Friday said the move was "unacceptable and regrettable". Noting that the reports about imparting training to Sri Lankan airmen was a "big concern", Vasan said Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B S Gnanadesikan had already taken up the issue with central ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Congress on Sunday decried "maligning" of the Prime Minister and party-led UPA government by pro-Tamil groups in the state over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and expressed confidence that India would vote in favour of the US-backed resolution against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC.
Rail and road blockade, demonstrations, and impromptu rallies by the Opposition marked the shutdown in the state affecting normal life to some extent.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls, while the Congress president conveyed that she would stay "neutral" in the elections, sources said.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K V Thangkabalu signed the agreement, hammered out after hard bargaining by both sides for about a fortnight
The Congress said it will continue their march once the COVID third wave declines and the curbs are relaxed.
After days of haggling, ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its key ally Congress today finalised on the 63 constituencies to be contested by the national party for the April 13 assembly elections, amid indications by the Congress about possible power-sharing in case the combine won.
Jayanthi Natrajan, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, contradicted the statement of Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi that the time has come to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister. "I would like to put it on record that Dr Manmohan Singh and his team have done excellent work. There is no vacancy for the post of prime minister," she said at her first press conference as AICC spokesperson.
'I don't have anger or hatred towards anybody.Of course, I lost my father and for me it was a very difficult time'
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com recalls how Kanyakumari MP H Vasanthakumar, the first parliamentarin to die of Covid-related complications, would address his constituents by their names, making it a point to ask after their work and family.
Taking a 30-minute break from the Kanyakumari to Kashmir foot march at Sonawar, Gandhi drove to the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters on Maulana Azad Road before heading to the clock tower, locally known as 'Ghanta Ghar', to unfurl the tricolour.
The Congress on Monday joined other opposition parties, including the DMK and the PMK, in boycotting the June 27 by-election.
The controversy has sparked reactions across states. The famous Mankameshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh has now banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday once again passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to exempt the state from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and allow it to admit students to medical courses based on Plus Two exam marks.
The letter comes after a report by the London-based Financial Times, citing documents from George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), alluded to a "fraud" by the Adani Group by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel in 2013.
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.