The deaths of Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi within months of each other neutralises any sympathy factor their parties may hope to gain from. What's more, by removing charismatic leaders from the fray, it also levels the field for others, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
On a day when her companion of close to a quarter century was anointed her successor, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits J Jayalalithaa's memorial on Marina Beach two months after her death.
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.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu on Monday welcomed Karnataka government's decision to appeal against Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's acquittal in a wealth case, with DMK terming it as the "right" step by the ruling Congress party.
Special Public Prosecutor B V Acharya has advised the Karnataka government to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against acquittal of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa and three others in the disproportionate assets case, saying it was a "fit case" to do so.
Could Jayalalithaa remain a defendant to enable the recovery and return of the disproportionate assets in case the high court judgment is overturned?
A day after getting bail from Supreme Court in disproportionate assets case, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa walked out of Parappana Agrahara Central Prison on Saturday.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
The RK Nagar bypoll result is a danger signal to the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, says R Rajagopalan.
Even without Shah's TN visit and the rest, the increasing bonhomie between the BJP and the AIADMK factions in the state have become more visible than ever in the post-Jaya era, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and right wing outfits have made it clear that they would not allow any woman in the 10-50 age group to offer prayers at the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).
DMK General Secretary's sought removal of the PP alleging he has not been impartial.
Both OPS and EPS say positive results are expected soon.
'Let me stick my neck out and say that Tamil Nadu will keep alive its reputation for landslide election verdicts, with the DMK front winning at least 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The DMK combine has won 37 of the 38 LS constituencies in Tamil Nadu, and bagged 13 of the 22 assembly bypolls. What swept away the AIADMK-BJP alliance in the southern state was not dravidian ideology but job loss and graft bias, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Is Stalin positioning himself as a central figure in the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party, anti-Narendra Modi formation?
The special court in Bangalore on Saturday issued the order for release of All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa from jail here in accordance with the Supreme Court order granting her bail in the disproportionate assets case.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa is fit and healthy and has not shown any signs of 'a broken woman', a top jail official said.
The bench also wanted to know as to what extent details of treatment of people can be placed in the public domain merely because they held a public office.
The judiciary has often shied away from contesting the speaker's right or that of the legislature, but it has not always avoided taking a close look at the processes employed and arrive at conclusions that are binding on all concerned, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
He also expressed his disappointment over the 'wrong system' which needs to be changed.
Should the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu not make the required five out of 22 by-election seats, or even otherwise, the temptation to poach, especially from the Congress or starting with the Congress may be high on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami's agenda, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
At the age of 27, Chandrashekhar has cases of cheating and illegal money laundering against him in the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Chennai Police and the Bengaluru Police, a senior Delhi police officer said.
'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.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking an order that he be allowed to argue before the Karnataka high court in the hearing of an appeal filed by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa against her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
The AIADMK chief filed her nomination papers for June 27 bypoll to the Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency.
K Pandiarajan has filed a petition in the apex court in which he has sought a direction for quashing Speaker P Dhanapal's decision rejecting the demand for a secret ballot to determine the outcome of the floor test.
The court granted the relief to the two saying they were no longer required for custodial interrogation and have been asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs five lakh each and two sureties of the like amount.
The Madras high court on Monday said there would be no holiday for schools and colleges on Tuesday and warned Tamil Nadu government that it would be held responsible for any untoward incident and breakdown of law and order in connection with agitations against the conviction of All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa.
Jailed All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa will have to stay in prison for at least 6 more days as the vacation bench of the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday posted for October 7 hearing on her pleas for suspension of the sentence and immediate bail in the disproportionate assets case.
Normalcy was returning to Tamil Nadu on Sunday, a day after sporadic violence erupted in several parts of the state in the wake of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the bail of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case by four months and asked the Chief Justice of Karnataka high court to constitute a special bench to decide her plea expeditiously within three months.
'There is no evidence of newspapers and television channels ganging up to wage a coordinated war to expose the BSP, destroy the AIADMK, malign Kejriwal, discredit Lalu or defame Mamata.' 'But it's of interest that none of these exposes threatens the 12 states the BJP controls,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's leader's plea seeking removal of a public prosecutor from representing state in the Karnataka high court, which recently reserved verdict on an appeal of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case.
The Supreme Court on Friday extended till June 16 its order staying the trial in a disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa by a Bangalore court.
The court asked the parties concerned to give it the list of issues which 'needed to be decided in the case on January 8'.
The chief government whip on Thursday sought their disqualification for alleged anti-party activities.
Dinakaran recalled the difficulties faced by party workers in carrying forward their organisational work without a name.
In the 2015 bypoll in the same RK Nagar seat, she had declared total assets of Rs 117.13 crore.
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