The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the anticipatory bail granted to Union minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi in the alleged multi-crore granite quarrying scam. A bench comprising justices H L Dattu and Ranjan Gogoi also refused to interfere with the Madras high court's decision quashing a non-bailable arrest warrant against Dayanidhi.
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Thursday kept in abeyance till November 2 a non-bailable warrant issued against Union Minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi in an illegal granite quarrying case.
A local court on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant against Durai Dayanidhi, son of Union Minister M K Alagiri, in the multi-crore illegal granite quarrying scam case.
Alagiri said he was doing all this to "save" the DMK following the demise of Karunanidhi.
Amid speculations that he may float his own outfit, suspended Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Alagiri on Saturday said he did not have any plan to quit the party even if he was forced out.
Former Union minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi, who has been granted anticipatory bail in the alleged granite quarrying scam, today filed a plea in the Madras high court Bench here seeking a direction to a lower court to return his passport to enable him go abroad in connection with his business interests.
In a move that could further fuel the sibling rivalry in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, showcause notices have been issued to 17 supporters of Union minister and party's strongman in the south M K Alagiri, for not attending a public meeting, convened in Madurai by his younger brother M K Stalin.
Additional security was on Friday 'restored' at the Madurai house of Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M K Alagiri, a day after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam strongly protested the withdrawal of police personnel.
In continuing crackdown on illegal granite quarrying, cases have been registered against ten persons, including Union Minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi, charging the companies owned by them with mining sand and granite without permission.
Ahead of next week's crucial general council meeting, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is at the crossroads with differences among Karunanidhi family members over the succession issue, threatening to make the two-day meet at Coimbatore a stormy affair.
The BJP's hobnobbing with M K Alagiri and ally Vaiko's controversial demands has the potential to rock the BJP's boat in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has removed Union Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri and Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran from two key sub-committees of the Union Cabinet. Both Alagiri and Maran are leaders of the Congress's ally DMK. In the wake of the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam, involving DMK leader and then telecom minister A Raja, the PM has been careful about allocating sensitive positions to the party's leaders.
Contrary to expectations, not a single DMK functionary was present.
The internal feud in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam intensified on Thursday with the high command ordering suspension of five loyalists of M K Alagiri, elder son of party chief M Karunanidhi, over recurring instances of "mischievous posters" in Madurai.
Union Ministers and Ministers of State will now require the Prime Minister's prior approval before going on official foreign tours and they will also have to keep the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) informed about their private foreign visits.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday demanded that Union Fertiliser Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam nominee M K Alagiri should be sacked in connection with the alleged fertiliser subsidy scam.
Having altered the political landscape of Tamil Nadu by firming up a pre-poll alliance with five parties of the state for the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday welcomed the tacit support of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Alagiri, saying it will help in formation of NDA government at the Centre.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator and the party's youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as minister in Chennai on Wednesday by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi.
Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M K Alagiri who has been criticised in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for his prolonged absence during Parliament's ongoing budget session has, in fact, been flying off to Chennai or Madurai every third day.
Three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers -- S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan, S Jagatrakshakan -- on Wednesday submitted their resignations from the government to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But Union minister and DMK leader M K Alagiri was conspicuous by his absence.
Hardening its stand, key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday slammed the Centre for its "lukewarm" response on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and threatened to walk out of the ruling alliance if it failed to move amendments to the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi on Monday renominated former telecom minister and 2G scam accused A Raja for the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu. He also sent a strong message to rebels in the party by denying a ticket to his son M K Alagiri.
Many bureaucrats in Sashtri Bhavan where the fertiliser ministry is housed are totally disenchanted and disgruntled over the unique behaviour of the union minister of fertilisers.
Alagiri's remarks reignited the succession war that appeared to have been settled with the promotion of his younger sibling M K Stalin as deputy chief minister last year by Karunanidhi, with Alagiri himself being promoted to national politics after being inducted into the Union Cabinet.
The condition of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, undergoing treatment for serious liver ailment at a hospital in Chennai, was stated to be stable on Friday.
A day after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced its decision to pull out of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the party said today that its ministers would submit their resignations on Monday.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday repealed the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Act, thereby laying the foundation of a political strategy to woo the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. After Home Minister P Chidambaram proposed the agenda and sought the views of other ministers in the Cabinet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his go-ahead for the repeal.
Karunanidhi was convinced that using the 2G cases against the DMK and reopening the fodder case against Lalu Prasad Yadav were products of the Congress leadership's short-sightedness. A revealing excerpt from A S Panneerselvan's Karunanidhi: A Life.
Following up on her successful rally in Trichy in the run-up to the 2011 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president J Jayalaithaa on Monday staged a mammoth rally in Madurai.
An AIADMK survey estimates that the party will get between 25 and 30 of Tamil Nadu's 39 seats. This makes Jayalalithaa a major player in New Delhi, if not a contender for the prime minister's post.
Eighty-six-year-old Karunanidhi, accompanied by his sons Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin and Union Minister M K Alagiri, filed his papers before the election officer Jayaraj.
Sibling rivalry in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to the fore for yet another time on Saturday, with the party high command dissolving a Madurai unit and replacing it with a temporary body dominated by supporters of its Treasurer M K Stalin.
An Enforcement Directorate officer was arrested for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a a government employee, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), said on Friday.
Election Commission on Saturday ordered the transfer of the Returning Officer of Madurai-East constituency S Sugumaran forthwith.
In the continuing crackdown by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, a former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Legislative Assembly was on Tuesday arrested for his alleged role in a case. Ranganathan was arrested in Chennai based on a complaint, the police said.
A day after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam warned of action against those responsible for putting up inappropriate posters relating to Union Minister M K Alagiri, party chief M Karunanidhi Wednesday said that none of his sons were involved in such activities and blamed a rival camp for it.
In the poll bound Tamil Nadu..the Election Commission went on a transfer overdrive on Saturday, shifting 4 collectors and 7 senior Indian Police Service officers.
Two districts where most of the cash and jewellery has been recovered are Madurai and Tiruchirapalli, both bastions of the rulng DMK.
Putting a lid on the succession war, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday decided that it would be continued to be led by 88-year-old M Karunanidhi, and gave no indication of pulling out of the United Progressive Alliance coalition at the Centre.
Madurai, the second largest city in Tamil Nadu, is known as the gateway to the south of the state. It is famous for its Meenakshi temple and Thirumal Nayakar's palace. The Vaigai river flows through the city, though there is not much water flowing in it in the summer months.