"I could not even stay at my house and goons are being sent against me. I do not know who (goons) they are...," Jayakumar said.
There is also a catchy slogan coined for the occasion, by none other than Jayalalitha herself: 'Naalai Namadhe, Naarpadhum Namadhe'. Rendered in English it means, 'The future is ours, 40 is ours' (referring to the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puduchery combined).
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa will contest the April 13 Tamil Nadu assembly polls from the temple town of Srirangam in Tiruchirapalli district. Her name finds place in the first list of AIADMK candidates released on Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said she would not attend the last rites of former President A P J Abdul Kalam in Rameswaram owing to her health condition and has deputed seven cabinet colleagues to represent her and the state government at the funeral.
'In the last three to four months the BJP vote share in Tamil Nadu, which was 2.86% in 2016, has gone up to about 5%-6%.' 'The AIADMK will lose the minority votes and others who don't like the BJP and Modi.' 'The AIADMK decided to take the risk to get the 5%-6% votes that the BJP will bring in.'
'I wish him well in whatever he does and I will do so if he enters politics too.'
The historic coastal town is witnessing a flurry of activity, including infrastructure development in view of the high-level meet between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
The Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam government on Thursday underlined its determination to act against land grab cases, in which connection many DMK functionaries have been jailed, assuring victims their "lost property" would be reclaimed.
Protests were held across Tamil Nadu with raising of slogans-- "Vendum Vendum Kudineer Vendum" (we want water) and "Edappadi Arasai Kandikirom" (we condemn chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy's government).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa regarding the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant after meeting an all-party delegation from the state.
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Putting up a spirited performance in the assembly by-polls despite its Lok Sabha debacle, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu has won nine of the 22 segments where elections were held in two phases in April and May.
Two more infants, shifted from Dharmapuri Government Hospital to Salem, died on Wednesday pushing the toll of toddlers to 13, as the opposition parties called for a probe in the incident.
The Madras high court on Tuesday rejected a plea from mining giant Vedanta to order reopening of its Sterlite copper unit at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.
The government order said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".
Under its impact, rains will start on Sunday night and gradually increase on Monday in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.
Judicial Magistrate of Tirumangalam near Madurai issued the warrant against Panneerselvam, former ministers K A Senottaiyan and Pollachi Jayaraman and 17 others on Friday.
Sasikala's declaration of staying away from politics does not necessarily have to mean that she was retiring for good. She is only taking time to evaluate the post-poll chances of hers before digging in again, if possible, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is now in a wave of a storm for what appeared to be criticising the government of Tamil Nadu.
The contemporary problem with the BJP in Tamil Nadu is that it has been trying hard to package the DMK especially as anti-god and anti-Hinduism, and seeking it to link to Periyar and M Karunanidhi, and by extension to Stalin, the latter's son and successor to the party mantle. Their hope was to consolidate the perceived 'pro-god, pro-religion votes', which they saw returning to the fold post-MGR, post-Jayalalithaa. But no such substantial vote-bank existed even in Periyar's time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
'Going by his political conduct over the past 15 years since first becoming chief minister, he has made enough enemies among equals as friends and followers.' 'They could gang up and that could mean a lot for AIADMK politics to handle,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The OPS camp believes Sasikala's family still calls the shot in the EPS camp.
Former Attorney general Soli Sorabjee earlier in the day said that the Jallikattu Bill will pose a serious constitutional challenge.
Jaya has been hospitalised since September 22, is interacting and progressing gradually.
'No one was allowed to meet Jaya. Whoever came, would be briefed by Sasikala's relatives that she was 'all right',' Dindigul Srinivasan said.
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.
The legislators moved out of the resort as it was already booked for the weekend, sources said.
O Panneerselvam is the first chai-wallah to become chief minister in the country. Gujarat's Narendra Modi, the better-known chai-wallah to become chief minister, followed Paneerselvam around a fortnight later in 2001. The parallel should end there, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The threat to Sasikala won't come from the Tamil Nadu chief minister or New Delhi, but from her 20-plus kin, reports R Rajagopalan.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam led the strike against the Centre.
Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao is understood to have made it clear that he will await the judgement of the Supreme Court in disproportionate assets case against All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam General Secretary V K Sasikala before taking any decision on the issue of chief ministership, TV channels reported on Friday.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
Stalin, along with senior leader K N Nehru began the fast at 9 am at Uzhavar Sandhai grounds.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday said it would soon move a no-confidence motion against Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal as it accused him of "deliberately harping on his community to malign" the party.
The pleas were mentioned for urgent listing before the bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.
The mass Jallikattu protests on Chennai's Marina beach showed no sign of dying out on Friday, even after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam promised that a draft ordinance aimed at ensuring the conduct of the traditional bull-taming sport has been submitted to the home ministry.
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