All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was on Saturday shifted to a private room in a ward of Apollo Hospital in Chennai after she was admitted in the critical care unit on September 22.
Seeking to capitalise on the large number of non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties having "substantial support and strength in the country," the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday entered into an alliance in Tamil Nadu for Lok Sabha polls.
With no solution in sight for government formation in Tamil Nadu, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has asserted that a majority of its MLAs are behind General Secretary V K Sasikala
It is a sea of men clad in veshtis with distinctive party colour border design seeking votes with a smile and folded hands for their party candidates. The town is abuzz, with electioneering at its peak, and teeming trendy cars criss-cross the busy roads and bylanes bringing in more and more leaders from elsewhere for campaign.
'The symbol will come to EPS camp... there is no doubt about it.'
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
In a week from now, December 21, voters in R K Nagar in Chennai will decide who their MLA will be.
Already, there is a feeling even within the BJP's AIADMK ally that the BJP is overdoing things on the ED/I-T front, as corruption is not an election issue in the state -- as long as the people are otherwise not excessively unhappy with the governing party, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former Chief Minister Panneerselvam's decision was made in the wake of an appeal by the BJP to put up a common candidate to defeat the DMK backed Congress candidate in the election.
Meanwhile, a central intelligence estimate has put the toll at 30 besides four suicide attempts.
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.
Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran sought to play down party's decision.
The campaign will reach a high decibel level next week when BJP state chief K Annamalai is expected to take up a blitzkrieg campaign against the ruling DMK.
Strongly defending former chief minister and party supremo Jayalalithaa's aide V K Sasikala, ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday said there is nothing wrong in its leaders calling on her as she is a key member and asserted a person would soon be elected to the top post of General Secretary.
State Finance Minister D Jayakumar said such "politics of opportunism" will not succeed.
Seen by political watchers as the favourite to retain power for a third straight term, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats, a goal aimed as much at projecting its strength as at diminishing the opposition in popular imagination.
Panneerselvam said the "dream of those to capture power" will end as a "daydream" and asserted that his camp would not allow the party to go into the hands of "a family".
However, the EC is yet to make an official announcement in this regard.
Continuing her tirade against Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on participatory note issue, AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa on Thursday demanded his resignation from the Union Cabinet or his dismissal.
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The governor of a state has to act on the recommendation of the council of ministers, the Supreme Court said on Friday while dismissing an appeal challenging the decision of the Madras high court refusing to consider a petition against the continuance of V Senthil Balaji as a minister in the Tamil Nadu government despite his arrest.
The BJP promised revival of the legislative council in Tamil Nadu, which was abolished decades ago by its ally, the ruling AIADMK, if their combine was voted to power in the coming assembly elections.
The BJP is ready for a snap poll anytime and is sure the UPA will not remain in office till 2009 in view of widening differences with the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear.
The travails due to enforcement of the eligibility test was because the AIADMK regime under K Palaniswami allowed the test to be conducted, despite DMK's efforts to keep it at bay, he said
Stalin, whose party has a strength of 89 members in the 234-member house, claimed his efforts were not aimed at taking DMK to power nor was there any intention of enjoying posts.
Dinakaran, who was expelled from the AIADMK in 2011, was re-inducted into the party last month by Sasikala after he expressed regret for his alleged anti-party activities.
She said the prayers of party supporters has reaped fruits and thanked the medical experts from AIIMS and Singapore among others who treated the 68 year-old leader.
'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.
Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy delivered the verdict on Monday morning, which allowed the EPS faction to hold the GC meet, the supreme decision making body of the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
The satta market is accepting bets on how many times Modiji will mention Nehru at his election rallies, says A Ganesh Nadar with a wink.
Party treasurer and Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said, "In tune with party rules, honourable Chinnamma is appointed AIADMK general secretary and a resolution to this effect has been adopted unanimously by the general council."
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices R Subhash Reddy and A S took note of the submission of the main opposition party of the state that speaker has not been taking any decision on the MLAs for last three years and issued notices to him, assembly secretary and 11 lawmakers including O Panneerselvam.
The names of the candidates were announced by AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa soon after her return from Udhgamandalam on Sunday in a statement.
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.
A meeting presided over by Palaniswami said the appointment of Dinakaran as deputy general secretary was against party rules.
Though another 75 candidates are in the fray, the Elangovan-Thennaruasu fight has become a prestige battle for the DMK and AIADMK, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sasikala, clad in a light green saree with a pink border, greeted supporters with folded hands. She rode to the party office in the car used by Jayalalithaa.
Neither the ruling DMK nor the fractured AIADMK Opposition anticipated that an assembly by-election would put them both to test, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While the Raj Bhavan had on Thursday night said it placed the unprecedented 'dismissal' order on hold, the DMK regime asserted it would pick an appropriate action plan to counter and fight the move against the minister by Ravi, even though he backtracked from it.
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