In apparent signs of thaw after years of bickering stemming out of internal feud in the AIADMK in the past, party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami welcomed Dhinakaran back in to the National Democratic Alliance. The AMMK founder reciprocated with a "heartfelt thanks," yet admitting there was "sibling rivalry" with AIADMK, the party he was once associated with.
AIADMK leaders and supporters pay homage to J Jayalithaa on her 5th death anniversary.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa may have snapped her friendship with Sasikalaa Natarajan and expelled her from the party because of the Rs 66 crore misappropriate assets case in which the two are accused. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Natarajan was admitted to the hospital on Saturday with severe chest infection and was put on ventilator support.
'The EPS camp feels assertiveness will help the AIADMK keep the BJP's seat-share ambitions to the minimum,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The AIADMK leader's car briefly halted in front of a Ganesha temple in Kotturpuram and she prayed from inside the vehicle as used to be done by Jaya.
The special court on Thursday adjourned the recording of statement of Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide and co-accused in the wealth case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa till hearing of an application filed by Sasikala's counsel on Friday.
The two weeks that EPS took fending off the Sengottaiyan rebellion has since become lost time for the AIADMK as that was also the time Vijay took to go all-out against Stalin and the DMK, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A special court trying the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday granted a six week stay on proceedings against her close aide and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan, concerning the translation process.
Sasikala Natarajan, close aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and co-accused in the wealth case against her, has filed a criminal petition in the Karnataka high court challenging a lower court order rejecting her plea seeking various documents pertaining to the case.
A special court trying the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday adjourned to January 18, the proceedings against her former close aide and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan concerning the translation process.
Amit Shah seemingly encouraging AIADMK dissident Sengottaiyan after party boss Edappadi K Palaniswami had removed his one-time mentor from all party posts has not gone down well with party cadres. They are now ready to buy Team EPS' theory that the BJP and Amit Shah are out to liquidate the AIADMK, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The special court trying the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday adjourned to January 30, the proceedings against her close aide and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan, concerning the translation process.
A special court on Wednesday adjourned till June 18 further recording of the statement of Sasikala Natarajan, the second accused in the disproportionate asset case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The Special Court trying the wealth case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday adjourned to March 21 further recording of the statement of Sasikala Natarajan, her estranged aide and co accused. Special Court judge B M Mallikarjunaiah allowed the applications under Section 317 CrPC by Sasikala's counsel C Manishankhar, seeking exemption from her personal appearance and other two accused (V N Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi) and adjournment.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala Natarajan on Saturday claimed in a special court in Bangalore that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi had in 1996 offered to exclude her from the wealth case against the AIADMK supremo if she turned against her.
The Karnataka high court on Wednesday reserved orders on a plea by Sasikala Natarajan, co-accused in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, seeking translated versions of questions framed by the court in Tamil.
Sasikala Natarajan, the second accused in the disproportionate asset case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on Monday filed an application in a special court questioning the jurisdiction of a judge in continuing hearing of the case stating his appointment was not as per law.
Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, on Saturday deposed before a special court in Bengaluru in the wealth case against them, absolving the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo of any responsibility in the handling of companies in which the two were partners.
The Karnataka high court on Friday dismissed the petition concerning the translation process filed by Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide and an accused in the disproportionate assets case filed against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Upholding the trial court's order on the petition, Justice N Ananda held that there need not be any "interference" with the lower court's order and dismissed it.
The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted Sasikala Natarajan, a close aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, to inspect certain documents filed by the probe agency in the disproportionate assets case pending against them before a Bengaluru trial court.
The brother of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's former aide Sasikala's was arrested on Friday in Tiruvarur district for allegedly demolishing a woman's house in Rishiyur village.
Three of the accused in the disproportionate asset case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa -- among them her close aide Sasikala Natarajan on Monday filed petitions in the high court, seeking a writ of quo warranto against the special judge trying the case and a writ of declaration declaring his appointment as "null and void".
The Madras high court on Monday granted bail to V Divakaran, a relative of Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in an abduction and criminal intimidation case.
Partymen ignore the voices of dissent, Chinnamma set to be elected party chief unopposed.
A special court in Bengaluru trying the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday adjourned to February 18, recording of statement of estranged aide and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan.
M Natarajan, the estranged husband of Sasikala, describes in detail the association his wife and he shared with Jayalalithaa.
O Panneerselvam should not be surprised if the current controversy that he has kicked off is used to rid him of the party coordinator's post, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sasikala's name is doing the rounds for the general secretary's job, but it is one thing for Sasikala to acquire power under Jayalalithaa's wing and quite another when the CM is somebody else, says Aditi Phadnis.
The chief minister may have Prime Minister Modi's backing.
Jayalalithaa's demise is seen as a personal loss for the 59-year-old Sasikala who was probably one of the few occupants of the Chief Minister's Veda Nilayam residence at Poes Garden besides assistants and officials.
The AIADMK called Sasikala Pushpa's plea 'vindictive', stating that she did not challenge her expulsion from AIADMK.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the post Jayalalithaa Tamil Nadu, Sasikala is the person to be watched in the coming days, weeks and months, writes R Ramasubramanian.
The AIADMK general secretary is currently serving her sentence at the Parapanna Agrahara prison in Bengaluru.
Jayalalithaa was the third chief minister in Tamil Nadu to die in office, after her mentor M G Ramachandran (1987) and before that his mentor C N Annadurai (1969). The state government should have evolved protocols for the medical care of the incumbent, and institutional memory should have guided the government and officials in the matter, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
A PIL was filed in SC to stop Sasikala from taking oath on Tuesday as the AIADMK remained tight-lipped.
Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are centred on chief ministerial candidates of rival parties. When Sasikala cannot contest even a panchayat election for six years after her release, even if she were to have sympathetic backers even among apolitical voters, she does not have any 'transferrable vote-bank' even otherwise for a chief minister candidate of her choice, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu on February 8, there are some important questions facing her. One, does she carry electoral weight more now than her brainchild AMMK had in the 2019 LS polls? Two, can she retain or build upon the five per cent vote-share from that time? And finally, is there space for Sasikala to retrieve, first within the AIADMK and then across the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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