As the petition points out, new medical colleges entail adjunct government hospitals, thus making specialised medical care that much more accessible to the vast majority of population that otherwise could not afford high-cost medical care in the private sector, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
All set to take over as the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Tamil Nadu sssembly, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam scion M K Stalin on Tuesday vowed to do justice to the post and take up people's issues in a constructive way in the legislature.
An interesting multi-cornered contest is on the cards for the urban local body elections in Tamil Nadu scheduled for February 19 with opposition parties, which were with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam till a few days ago, set to take on the ruling DMK banking on their respective party's own strength.
The interim order was passed on petitions by Stalin and Dinakaran loyalist MLA P Vetrivel.
Udhayanidhi, the 45-year old actor-producer is hailed as the "rising sun" by DMK workers, in obvious reference to the party's Rising Sun symbol.
Here's how brokerages across the country are interpreting the exit polls.
The Supreme Court Monday rued the 'general practice' of speakers delaying decisions on pleas seeking disqualification of lawmakers and the subsequent arguments that courts should 'stay away,' while hoping that the West Bengal assembly speaker would decide on such a plea against Mukul Roy who defected to the Trinamool Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party after the state polls.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said it has perused the judgments submitted and was of the view that the issue does not need consideration by a larger bench.
RJD president Lalu Prasad will not attend the celebrations due to ill health.
But not for too long, as TTV Dinakaran can still play spoilsport, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'There are many things we need to work on.' 'At the heart of it is, one, the extent of inequality, which is not good for democracy and nation; two, a structural decline on how a country ought to function, how people should be held accountable, whose role is what.'
Digital canvassing is expected to benefit from political money looking for alternative blow horns.
Counting of votes for the high stakes assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry began on Thursday morning with trends expected to be available by 11am.
The State Election Commission on Friday informed the Calcutta high court that it has requisitioned 822 companies of central forces for the July 8 panchayat polls in West Bengal.
Stalin, 68, was contesting as the chief ministerial candidate for the first time during these polls. He was elected unopposed as the DMK chief in August 2018, after the death of his father, a post that Karunanidhi held for 49 years. That didn't come as a surprise to anyone, as during his lifetime, Karunanidhi, on multiple occasions made his preference for his successor abundantly clear and systematically groomed him for the job.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator and the party's youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as minister in Chennai on Wednesday by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah on Friday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and invited All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa to form the new government.
Tamil nadu Chief Minister and All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Monday sacked three ministers and six district heads in the backdrop of her party's defeat in three Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
There are 8,97,394 active cases of COVID-19, which is 20.53 per cent of the total caseload in the country, the data stated.
'Modi looks to be an effective, result-oriented, purposeful leader, focused on bringing greatness and glory to the nation.'
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So it is best for his critics to give up their sniping and supplement his efforts,' asserts B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant who served three prime ministers.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
All 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.
'If the interim chief minister lodges a criminal complaint against Sasikala for grabbing power through coercion, she has to face one more case.'
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 BJP and the AIADMK are unable to sort out ideological differences, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
The Madras high court on Thursday ordered issuing notice to deposed All Indi Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam and his relatives on a criminal revision case initiated on its own, relating to their discharge in a disproportionate wealth case by a trial court in 2012.
Is Governor Ravi acting without informing/consulting the Centre, or is the BJP leadership unsure of what to do with the DMK in Tamil Nadu? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Anti-Congress regional parties may have felt the possible impact of Rahul's South-North yatra, pending a second East-West padayatra, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The last time Tamil Nadu seriously voted on pre-poll promises was in faraway 1967.
The DMK chief said it was a 'resounding victory' given to his party led alliance by the people of Tamil Nadu.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on the hit-list, not because the chief minister was unhappy with his performance, but because there were constant complaints from other ministers that he was sitting on their files far too long, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress on Monday joined other opposition parties, including the DMK and the PMK, in boycotting the June 27 by-election.
Tamil Nadu's unending legislative fight for exemption from NEET has now flagged the question if it's time to review the Supreme Court's famous verdict in the 'Mandal case', fixing 50-per cent upper-limit for all reservations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Though another 75 candidates are in the fray, the Elangovan-Thennaruasu fight has become a prestige battle for the DMK and AIADMK, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Two months after the "issuance" of fake death certificates in the names of a Tamil Nadu Minister and a member of Legislative Assembly by the city corporation, a birth certificate in the name of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has come to fore, sparking demands for a probe into the functioning of e-governance services of the civic body.
Allies since the 1990s, the JD-U and the BJP have in the recent past squabbled on issues ranging from Agnipath, caste census, population law and ban on loudspeakers.
According to an internal assessment of the food ministry, shared with chief ministers recently, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh will see a massive reduction in their annual grain allocation.
Petitions challenging the election of All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to the assembly in a byelection have been filed in the Madras high court by two independent candidates.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.