The Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday once again adopted the anti-NEET Bill, returned days ago to the government by Governor RN Ravi, with the ruling Dravida Munentra Kazhagam and principal opposition All India Anna DK reaffirming their opposition to the test.
Stung by cross-voting of seven dissident Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam members of Legislative Assembly in Thursday's Rajya Sabha polls, party founder and Leader of the Opposition Leader in the assembly Vijayakant on Friday charged them with betrayal as they were given a political identity by him.
A massive swing of 21.3 per cent in vote share propelled the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to coast to a resounding victory in 37 of the 39 seats leaving miles behind rivals including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
Good intentions and elaborate roadmaps apart, there is an urgent need for the Tamil Nadu chief minister to come up with branded schemes like MGR's meal scheme, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Soon after the Karnataka high court denied bail for Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam on Tuesday appealed to people not to resort to strike or any other form of protest to express solidarity with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief as she would not like to cause inconvenience to the common man.
While Rahul Gandhi led Congress has a pan Indian presence, Naidu described regional leaders, including himself, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Stalin and Deve Gowda as strong leaders in their respective states, who are coming together against the BJP.
Twitter users flooded the social network with messages against the move, making #StopHindiImposition and #TNAgainstHindiImposition the top trends on platform.
Jayalalithaa, who took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time, said if she would have been informed she would have instructed the officers in charge of the arrangements to provide a seat to Stalin in the first row, relaxing the norms in the Protocol Manual.
Implementing the poll promises of TN parties will cost state exchequer Rs 30,000 cr a year, say experts.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
'Tamil Nadu is a state of temples, it's a holy land. People don't seem to realise that.'
While the crowds outside the AIADMK HQ seem to have taken victory for granted, a small crowd out the DMK HQ refuses to concede. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports from Chennai.
If Muslims face trouble I will be the first person to raise voice for them, says the Tamil superstar.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa's electioneering using helicopter to criss-cross Tamil Nadu has become a poll plank for opposition parties in the state as the campaign gathers momentum.
Monday was the fourth consecutive day, proceedings were washed out over the Rafale jet deal and Cauvery issues.
The Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement had met both Chief Minister Palaniswami and Stalin to seek their intervention in lifting the ban on toddy-tapping and had submitted petitions, but there it remained. So the matter is being taken to the people's court.
'OPS did not back off.' 'He wanted transparency and he got it.'
Tamil Nadu has around 30 per cent or more of 'swing voters', and it is this segment that will swing the pre-poll alliance decision, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami's side.' 'There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent,' says R Rajagopalan.
'Your strike rate is very important when it comes to seat-sharing.'
Elections are due in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal that year. Early indications show Bengal holds promise for the BJP, but the party may have to recast itself to win Tamil Nadu.
The sub-quota scheme may now lead to a ganging up of non-Vanniyars in individual constituencies against the Vanniyars just as in the past, such ganging up against SC-ST candidates was seen in the non-quota constituencies, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Assembly elections are due in the summer of 2016 in five places: Assam, West Bengal in the east and Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south
A time has thus come when state encouragement for rural students led to empowerment of the socio-economically marginalised sections of the population. It included women. Today, with greater exposure and consequent enlightenment, it has gone beyond 'empowerment' to become 'entitlement', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kanimozhi told reporters that the Palaniswami-led government has become 'bloodthirsty' and the chief minister should be held responsible for the incident.
V K Sasikala, late J Jayalalithaa's confidante would return to Tamil Nadu on February 7 from Bengaluru and a grand welcome from party cadres awaited her right from the state's border, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dinakaran said in Madurai on Wednesday.
His comments come a day after state Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar claimed that 111 MLAs had attended the meet convened by the chief minister.
More than the traditional Dravidian political rivalry that's now on display, it's boiling down to father-son one-upmanship within the DMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The sidelined leader's victory is being seen as a worrying development both for AIADMK and principal opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which finished third behind the ruling party.
Transport minister M R Vijayabaskar said that despite the stir, 80% buses were running.
Tamil Nadu chief secretary said that the request could not be sanctioned, owing to the legal issues at Marina Beach.
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
What will a split in the AIADMK mean for Tamil Nadu?
The Jaya-Jaitley meeting poses more questions than answers -- and not just for the Tamil Nadu BJP.
The CBI has began the probe on the request of the Tamil Nadu government on March 12.
'Both the AIADMK and DMK are promising prohibition, but where is the road map? Jayalalithaa is not giving a blueprint for her phased prohibition and Karunanidhi is not talking about a draft bill for the same. This is nothing but empty election rhetoric.'
'Last night someone threw stones at my house at 11 pm. My car was also smashed.'
Thousands of police personnel have been deployed across the state to maintain law and order.
"It is me in the video, but the voice is not mine," Saravanan told reporters.
Despite drawing a blank in Tamil Nadu, its leaders in the state claimed they should strike roots without using a crutch at this "most opportune" time, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
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