Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reacted to Andhra Pradesh counterpart Pawan Kalyan's out-of-turn taunts with a one-liner, 'Let's wait', and thereby hangs a tale, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
Following a complaint by a police inspector, the case was registered at Cubbon Park station, they said.
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
After a photoshoot with the artistes, the CM settled down for tea with the Governor.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
President Droupadi Murmu has exercised powers under Article 143(1) used in rarity to know from the Supreme Court whether timelines could be imposed by judicial orders for exercise of discretion by President while dealing with the bills passed by state assemblies.
The TN law minister said similarly, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption sought sanction to prosecute KC Veeramani and MR Vijayabaskar, also former ministers in the AIADMK government.
The AIADMK supremo retained 13 of her ministers, who were in the previous cabinet, besides inducting 17 new faces including four women.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's key ally in Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday slammed the saffron party alleging that it is anti-Tamil and claimed that the party could never grow in the state.
Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday expressed grief over the train accident at Sitheri and conveyed its condolences to the families of the victims.
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.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government has always taken care of the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and 'consistently' flagged the issue of their rights with the leaders in the island nation.
'We were not protesting for a wage hike or provident fund. We were protesting for the safety of the larger population. There is no personal gain.'
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to protect and ensure unity and communal harmony and uphold the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution.
Senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram, appearing for EPS, mentioned before a bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy and raised concerns over the problems in filing nominations in the Erode (East) by-election.
Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
Tandon said, after the review meeting at Madurai and Chennai on Tuesday, they would decide on the Tamil Nadu election date.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
Following in Apple's footsteps, Alphabet - Google's parent company - is in advanced talks with Foxconn to manufacture Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu, an industrial state which will also double up as drone-manufacturing hub for the US tech giant soon. According to a state government release, officials from Google will soon visit Chennai to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to hold discussion on manufacturing of Google Pixel near Chennai.
Top Tamil actor Vijay on Friday announced the launch of his political party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, and said he will contest the 2026 assembly polls in the state.
"This election has upheld true democracy shattering to pieces the campaign of lies of DMK. This election has put a permanent full stop to the family rule," she said.
Around 2,000 anti-nuclear activists were arrested on Monday as they thronged the streets in Chennai in an attempt to lay siege to the state assembly as mark of protest against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
The government on Friday rejected the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly -- asking the Centre to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly nation, to slap sanctions on it and demand a referendum for a separate Tamil Eelam.
The results for the polls will be announced on May 18, Election Commission sources said.
For the first 90 days of 2021, from January 5 onwards, one Union minister will visit one district in Tamil Nadu every week till the assembly election.
Karnataka has the highest number of medical seats in the country at 11,745, of which 3,750 seats were in government institutions and 7,995 seats were in private colleges.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, the chief minister also announced a one-man judicial probe, headed by Justice Michael D'Cunha, a retired high court judge of Karnataka, into the tragic incident.
A Ganesh Nadar analyses the 12 reasons that made the DMK bite the dust in the state elections
When a resolution, moved by Chief Minister M K Stalin, to urge the Centre to implement the Sethusamudram ship canal project was taken up for discussion in the House members spoke on their party stand.
Sowmiya Anbumani is the president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO involved in conservation of nature.
Two Opposition Dravida Munettra Kazhagam members of Legislative Assembly were evicted from Tamil Nadu Assembly following a heated exchange of words with rival All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam legislators.
Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Tuesday evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu assembly after they disrupted the proceedings by raising slogans to demand the passage of a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. Speaker R Avudaiyappan ordered the eviction following a request from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who said raising slogans inside the House was 'uncultured'.
Kumar, who played a key role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir during his stint in the Union home ministry, took charge as an election commissioner on March 15, 2024.
Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala Cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. Kumar, who was previously an Election Commissioner, will serve until January 26, 2029. His appointment comes amidst controversy as the Congress party demanded the government defer its decision until the Supreme Court concludes its hearing on a petition challenging the composition of the selection panel. Kumar's tenure will see him oversee several state assembly elections, including Bihar, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
Former Attorney general Soli Sorabjee earlier in the day said that the Jallikattu Bill will pose a serious constitutional challenge.
Expressing anguish over India's decision to participate in the upcoming CHOGM in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Assembly today passed a resolution at its emergent session demanding "complete boycott" of the summit, as Congress and two other parties kept away from voting.
The opposition Peoples' Democratic Party and Peoples' Conference targeted the ruling National Conference over the meeting, and accused it of surrendering to the Bharatiya Janata Party without even a pretence over the passage of the Waqf act.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were suspended on Thursday from the Tamil Nadu assembly for the rest of the session as the House was rocked by noisy scenes with the treasury benches sparring with them on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
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