By presenting the battle in Bengal as one between Mamata on one side and Modi-Shah on the other, the saffron camp has projected the former as a larger-than-life figure, a portrayal which has the potential of turning her into Modi's main competitor in 2024, predicts Amulya Ganguli.
Setting the stage for the revival of an united front against the BJP, Naidu claimed the mood of the nation was against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and soon an alliance would be formed with various regional parties.
Tamil Nadu chief secretary said that the request could not be sanctioned, owing to the legal issues at Marina Beach.
In a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Whenever they are announced, the bypolls to 20 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be a mini referendum on the state government's performance. It will also be a do-or-die battle for the ruling AIADMK, opposition DMK, as well as the rebel AMMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In order to maintain social distancing, the NTA has increased the number of exam centres from originally-planned 2,546 to 3,843, while the number of candidates per room has been reduced from earlier 24 to 12.
In order to maintain social distancing, the NTA has increased the number of centres from 2,546 to 3,843 for the NEET while the number of candidates per room has been reduced from earlier 24 to 12.
We used to hear of the Modi-Shah pair as the hyphenated top of the BJP leadership. Lately, the hyphen has disappeared and it is only Modi at the top. Yogi Adityanath gets honourable mentions, but he is still a good distance away from being anointed a worthy successor, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
Likening the situation in the country to a "social emergency", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made it clear that the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 cannot be lifted in one go on April 14, asserting that the priority of his government is to "save each and every life".
The Central team will be on a three-day visit to the affected areas and its itinerary will be decided on its arrival in Chennai on Friday, he added.
Neither Thiruvalluvar nor me will get trapped, Rajini said with a big laugh.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The fracas between Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on Monday over who will be projected as the CM candidate in next year's assembly polls not only points to a possibility of another vertical split in Tamil Nadu's ruling party but will also come as sweet music for the opposition DMK which in the past stood to gain from the AIADMK's squabbles, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"It is me in the video, but the voice is not mine," Saravanan told reporters.
The Palaniswami camp on Friday got a jolt when one of its MLAs R Natraj, a former state DGP, said that he would vote against the chief minister's motion of confidence.
Former Attorney general Soli Sorabjee earlier in the day said that the Jallikattu Bill will pose a serious constitutional challenge.
Cassandras and Congressis may sneer at the findings, but the Times Now poll indicated that the Modi government was very much on its way to a second term.
R Gopal, the editor of Tamil magazine 'Nakkheeran', who had written articles on a sex scandal involving a woman college teacher, was picked up by police from the airport before he could board a flight to Pune, officials said.
"Nothing wrong has happened over her death....there is no problem as being made by some persons," he said.
'Project Big Picture' called for the biggest six clubs in the Premier League, along with three other long-term members, to be given 'special voting rights' that would effectively put them in command of the world's most commercially successful league -- and leave the rest as second-class passengers.
The Congress chief has already held talks with several opposition leaders including Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, besides Indian Union Muslim League general secretary P K Kunhalikkutty.
We don't have confidence in the chief minister, the MLAs said.
In his first poll rally for the April 6 assembly polls, Modi rooted for the Tamil language, culture and invoked the welfare legacies of M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, late chief ministers and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam icons.
'Behind the BJP's anti-Congress crusade is an attempt to divert attention from the Ladakh standoff,' explains Amulya Ganguli.
"Kamal is efficient. He will earn people's confidence," he said.
For now, Edappadi K Palaniswami is in the saddle in Tamil Nadu, and firmly so. Both inside the party and the government, he has made OPS a yes-man, as the latter used to be under Jayalalithaa, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Calculated or otherwise, if Azhagiri's firing of the first salvo after Karunanidhi's death does not create some space for him to politico-electorally exploit at a later date, there may not be any space left for him at all, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The legislators moved out of the resort as it was already booked for the weekend, sources said.
Amid strains in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's first family over leadership squabbles, party chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday issued a veiled warning to his Madurai-based son M K Alagiri, saying those who went against party diktat would be expelled.
While the governments of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have assured students that they will provide transportation to candidates, a group of IIT alumni and students have also launched a portal to provide transport facilities to exam centres for the candidates in need.
DMK working president M K Stalin led a protest in Chennai and sought promulgation of an ordinance to allow holding the sport.
If either faction of the AIADMK failed to muster a floor majority, then the governor would be called upon to ask MK Stalin as the leader of the opposition if he would like to try his hand at government formation.
With Tamil Nadu's electoral fate decided, all eyes would now veer round to the pending 'disproportionate assets case' against Jayalalithaa in the Supreme Court, and Stalin's own future within the DMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the presidential elections over, the time has come for Prime Minister Modi to show Tamil Nadu that the state's interests are safe under him, says R Rajagopalan.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
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.
Banerjee said she was doing so after consulting leaders of major opposition parties and following 'a favourable court order'.
While the start may have been rocky, with renewed syllabus and coaching, students and teachers are largely in favour of the exam.
'In an alliance, you are forced to overlook loyal workers.' 'It sends a negative message and workers turn against the party.' 'I have forbidden this alliance.'
