On the face of it, the first round has gone to Edappadi K Palaniswami. Not only has he been named chief ministerial candidate, that too by his one-time bete noire Panneerselvam, he also gets one member more in the steering committee than OPS. He can now hope to wean away one or more members of the OPS team in the steering committee just as he had done with other leaders in the latter's camp, post-reunification. That was also OPS's concern, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Independent of what the Karnataka high court and the Supreme Court might decide in Jayalalithaa's conviction and sentencing in the coming days, weeks and months, political arguments based on 'popular mandate' theory are plain untenable, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Second-line AIADMK leaders and cadres alike say that by starting the talks first with the BJP and committing the party to an alliance without discussing seat-sharing, the leadership might have commenced the coalition discourse at the wrong end. According to them, even 20 seats for the BJP may be too many, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The SC said if the high court does not dispose of the pending case regarding allocation of symbol within four weeks then the EC may proceed as per the March 9, 2018 order.
The recently concluded assembly polls in the four states -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and one Union Territory -- Puducherry saw a blatant use of money power. But interestingly, the newly elected members of Legislative have claimed in their expense statements submitted to the Election Commission that their expenditure was well below the prescribed limit.
Karunanidhi was convinced that using the 2G cases against the DMK and reopening the fodder case against Lalu Prasad Yadav were products of the Congress leadership's short-sightedness. A revealing excerpt from A S Panneerselvan's Karunanidhi: A Life.
CBI sources said Jayalalithaa received 89 demand drafts worth Rs 2 crore drawn on various banks in Tamil Nadu and purchased in the names of 57 people, besides Rs 15 lakh in cash.
'Nobody is telling you not to speak or learn your mother tongue. But making other languages an emotional issue is wrong.'
The all-important Supreme Court verdict, which will decide the future of AIADMK supremo VK Sasikala, locked in a battle for chief ministership with O Pannerselvam, is set to be pronounced on Tuesday.
But the question before the leadership will be whether to retain the BJP alliance or dump it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Here is the glimpse of the political turn of events in the state
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Looming before it is a court case filed by 18 legislators dismissed by the speaker, challenging his decision and pointing out that in a similar situation 12 members of the O Panneerselvam faction were not dismissed, reports A Ganesh Nadar.
In true Karnataka political style, which cuts across parties and loyalties, any reinstatement of Yeddiyurappa, even with adequate legislative majority, could trigger rebellion from within, which could embarrass the Modi-Shah duo than any other development elsewhere in the country, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
The Legislative Council was abolished 20 years ago.
Wilful non-compliance of such mandatory features could attract imprisonment of up to a year or a fine that could go up to Rs five lakh or both.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the BJP is looking to fill the Opposition slot and not aspire to occupy pole position.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar spent Monday outside the Apollo hospital, Chennai, along with hundreds of AIADMK supporters praying for Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's health.
If Muslims face trouble I will be the first person to raise voice for them, says the Tamil superstar.
'The trust vote would have been closer had the DMK not been expelled,' O Panneerselvam tells A Ganesh Nadar at the launch of an e-learning portal in Jayalalithaa's name.
'I would say it is not going to be days and weeks. It is going to be months and years, over which we would make an assessment on the decisions taken by the Parliament at this point of time. 'We are in for a long haul is what I would say.' It was a very diverse India, which was coming together, politically, in a very cohesive, democratically-resilient way." Professor Navnita Behera examines the wisdom of the exit of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
DMDK leader Vijaykant is observing a one-day token fast at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to express solidarity with the minority Tamil population in Sri Lanka. Addressing his supporters in Tamil, the actor-turned-politician alleged that fishermen from Tamil Nadu were being kidnapped and killed, while they were out fishing on the high seas.Vijaykant, an actor-turned-legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, is known as the 'Black MGR' among his fans and followers.
Unpredictable polling in Tamil Nadu, and criminal cases stacked against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will be two key factors to be taken into consideration when the government is formed at the Centre, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'As she has been sentenced to 4 years in prison, her disqualification period begins after that for 6 years, totaling the next 10 years of her life, which may indicate that her legislative career in politics is over for the time being.'
Dinakaran met Sasikala for the first time after her loyalist E K Palaniswami won the vote of confidence in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on February 18.
Emerging from a "consultative" meeting chaired by Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, Finance Minister D Jayakumar declared that the "unanimous" decision was taken in tune with the aspirations of the party cadres and people.
29 years ago, Karnataka was hurled into a huge political crisis after MLAs withdrew support to S R Bommai's Janata Dal ministry. As the governor recommended that the chief minister be dismissed and President's Rule imposed in the state, then President R Venkataraman disagreed with Rajiv Gandhi's Cabinet and argued that 'the question whether a ministry commanded the confidence of the assembly should be tested in the House and not by the governor.' A fascinating excerpt from President Venkataraman's My Presidential Years, published with the kind permission of the publishers HarperCollins India.
A day after the Tamil Nadu assembly speaker disqualified 18 MLAs from the AIADMK's V K Sasikala-T T V Dinakaran faction, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar spoke to a couple of MLAs.
One of the most charismatic figures of Tamil Nadu politics and the most enduring mascot of the Dravidian movement breathed his last at 6.10 pm.
Oil marketing cos rightly passed on the burden to buyers.
To snatch a state government out of Congress hands is therefore a high-stakes game with national political implications, for it denies the party the essential fuel to run effective election campaigns, notes T N Ninan.
Today, as Jayalalithaa's friend, advisor and 'sister' Sasikala is also lodged in Bangalore Central jail, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister is where she was before: alone, all alone
In writing to the government for a change in the law, the Election Commission has actually acknowledged the future possibility of countermanding polls to curb the use of money power, says N Sathiyamoorthy.
'The protesters took out a march carrying black flags. They burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy while raising slogans against the three farm laws'
Members of the chief minister's family, including his elder son M K Azhagiri in the eye of a political storm following the attack on the Dinakaran office at Madurai, were seen in the gallery.
A political handshake between the Narendra Modi-led government and Jayalalithaa seems to be in the offing as the latter embarks on a crucial second term as Tamil Nadu chief minister.
The scheme will be implemented in phases.
Grand birthday celebrations for Jayalalithaa
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