'I don't have anger or hatred towards anybody.Of course, I lost my father and for me it was a very difficult time'
Even as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's general council meeting got underway in Chennai on Monday morning, endorsing Edappadi K Palaniswami as the interim general secretary, the rival O Panneerselvam faction staged a well-planned coup at the party headquarters in Royapettah, central Chennai.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP for claiming to protect the Constitution while citing V D Savarkar's remarks that there was nothing Indian about it. He also drew parallels to the story of 'Eklavya' to illustrate the BJP's alleged economic policies hurting small businesses and farmers. He further supported the removal of the 50 percent cap on reservations and advocated for a caste census.
According to an official release, the voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, as polling was scheduled until 6 pm in many constituencies.
A senior political commentator has said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha is the modern 'Mahishasur Mardini' who has taken birth to trounce the Congress in Tamil Nadu.
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
Only one in four workers in Karnataka receive a salary, the lowest among the four industrialised states of India, a Business Standard analysis of the latest annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data shows. While 31.6 per cent workers in Gujarat receive regular wages (or salaries), followed by Tamil Nadu (30.3 per cent) and Maharashtra (29.4 per cent), only 25.7 per cent workers in Karnataka receive the same. The figure stands at 21.5 per cent at the national level, according to the 2021-22 PLFS data.
The issue of alliances in the coming assembly polls in five states including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is ticklish for the Congress with the regional parties in both states playing the 'big brother'.
BJP workers depend on Annamalai's popularity to emerge victorious. He has has made 100 promises to be fulfilled in 500 days and assurances include cleaning up rivers, an international airport and food vans named after former Chief Minister K Kamaraj.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The timeline of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, who has served over 30 years in jail in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jayanthi Natrajan, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, contradicted the statement of Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi that the time has come to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister. "I would like to put it on record that Dr Manmohan Singh and his team have done excellent work. There is no vacancy for the post of prime minister," she said at her first press conference as AICC spokesperson.
Interacting with the media at Brussels Press Club in Brussels, Gandhi said the government's action tells about its thinking.
There are states that could swing either way and change the results of the 2024 general election.
Nachiappan, however, ruled out an alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, as it was a "replica of the Bharatiya Janata Party".
'Rahul Gandhi is raising the issue of a caste census though his party has been doing injustice on this front from the 1950s.'
Kharge's comments were a reference to the prime minister's remarks in February in Rajya Sabha wherein he had asserted that he alone outweighs all those who take turns to shout slogans to oppose him.
Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hyderabad on Wednesday and walked with Rahul Gandhi.
The 67-year-old gave the example of two neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to buttress his point on why seat-sharing pattern of the INDIA bloc will vary from state to state.
The Modi government wants to have a smooth relationship with the DMK government.
'The others have been looting the people all these years. If you don't do that, you can do a lot for the people,' says Tamil star politician Vijayakanth.
Vijayashanti would be the second popular star in South to join the BJP after Khushbu in Tamil Nadu.
In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rijiju's meeting with Bandyopadhyay came against the backdrop of the Opposition alliance's decision to pull out its members from the panel of chairpersons that will assist Mahtab in conducting the proceedings of the Lok Sabha till the election of the Speaker on Wednesday.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Banerjee said the prime minister will now have to move around the country and also abroad with two crutches.
Panneerselvam indicated that he would support the move but laid down certain conditions, he said without divulging them. "I hope the two factions would sort out the differences soon," Annamalai said.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for Tamil language and culture.
Scenes from day two of the Opposition conclave in Bengaluru on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
The following are the key constituencies which will go for polls in phase 4 of Lok Sabha elections, on May 7, 2009.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
Stalin, in an interview to a daily, has refuted the FM's allegations, saying "everyone present in the Assembly knew it was a drama enacted by herself," referring to the late Jayalalithaa.
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
The Congress expected the DMK to allot a 'respectable number of seats'.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
However, Karunanidhi said he was not bothered even about his life and that democracy was important for him.
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