Allotting seven seats to smaller allies, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday released the list naming candidates for the rest of 227 seats for which she held interviews for ticket aspirants from across Tamil Nadu in the past two weeks.
The ruling All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday retained both Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi assembly seats in the byelection held on May 14.
Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is now in a wave of a storm for what appeared to be criticising the government of Tamil Nadu.
In what can be called as a major hint towards sewing up an unprecedented merger between two warring factions, the Sasikala and the O Panneerselvam groups of the All Anna India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam met on late Monday night in Chennai.
The Madras high court on Thursday declared invalid the 2019 election of expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kaahagam member O P Ravindhranath from Tamil Nadu's Theni constituency.
The favourable apex court was a result of the 'divinity' of party stalwarts, the late Chief Ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, he said at a mass wedding ceremony in Madurai.
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.
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.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa Monday announced five of her party nominees for the June 27 biennial election to the six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu, giving V Maithreyan a successive term.
Vijayakanth was unwell for quite some time and his wife Premalatha took over the reins of the party days ago.
Seeking to mollify allies miffed over its 'unilateral' announcement of candidates for 160 constituencies in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK on Saturday concluded seat sharing arrangements with the Left parties and other allies for the April 13 assembly polls. The AIADMK is continuing its talks with the DMDK even as the process of filing of nominations for 234 seats begins on Saturday. The hectic political activity in the AIADMK camp continued till the wee hours of Saturday.
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.
Erode MP A Ganeshamurthi, who allegedly attempted suicide recently, died at a Coimbatore hospital on Thursday morning, sources from his party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the police said.
The AIADMK's Rajya Sabha members will join the DMK-led all-party delegation that will meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on June 8 to demand Cauvery water from Karnataka.
The campaign has gathered steam for the June 27 bypoll contest in Tamil Nadu featuring Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers are going all out to ensure her victory against the lone Communist Party of India challenger.
Ramachandran, an OPS loyalist who took part in the meeting, said the former chief minister would soon meet VK Sasikala, the confidante of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa.
'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 word 'ally' in a coalition is misleading because it suggests someone who is always for you and with you. This is incorrect.' 'They are always for themselves and sometimes with you,' explains Aakar Patel.
A Ganesh Nadar captures the mood and scenes from outside the hall in Vaanagaram where Sasikala was appointed as the new party chief.
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.
After observing ritualistic stipulations for days, a massive "milk pot" procession was taken out in Madurai by AIADMK workers and supporters in which a sizable number of women cadres participated.
Dr V Maitreyan, leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's parliamentary party, on Monday arrived in Delhi with ten Members of Parliament to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram. The group of MPs will seek extra protection by personnel of the elite National Security Guards for AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, as she has received two threats to her life last week.
'This is where I grew up. The only business I know is cinema.'
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.
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.
Modi's inability to make peace with a renewed Opposition will only embolden his coalition partners and it is just a matter of time before they begin asking probing questions besides politely disagreeing with his tactics, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The move of the Tamil Nadu government to release seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case generated heat in Lok Sabha on Thursday with Congress and AIADMK members clashing on the issue.
OPS also requested the EC to restarin Sisikala's pick Dindigul C Sreenivasan from functioning as the party treasurer
Protests by supporters of ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and several other outfits, including party affiliated trade unions intensified across the state against the conviction of Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, seeking her early release.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has bagged a mayor's post and is leading in all 10 corporations including Chennai as counting of votes, polled during the two-phased Tamil Nadu civic polls on October 17 and 19, was taken up on Friday.
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa appealed to AIADMK cadres not to celebrate her birthday, which fell on 24 February, at a time when Tamil Nadu was 'moving towards the path of destruction due to DMK's misgovernance".
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.
AIADMK leaders said his party was not opposed to the Ram Sethu project, but was against its current alignment.
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.
Emerging from a "consultative" meeting chaired by Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, Finance Minister D Jayakumar declared that the "unanimous" decision was taken in tune with the aspirations of the party cadres and people.
A poster put out by an expelled AIADMK party man in Chennai threatening Kannadigas living in Tamil Nadu if convicted party chief Jayalalithaa was not released from jail has created a flutter amidst the common populace.
Pushpa is facing sexual harassment case filed by her two domestic aides in Tamil Nadu.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'As Karunanidhi and Ramadoss flagged the law and order issue, Subramanian Swamy said Home Minister Rajnath Singh should send Chief Minister O Panneerselvam a directive under Article 246 of the Constitution. Swamy also dangled the fear of Article 356 over the state government.'
Describing party chief Jayalalithaa as a "very powerful and strong political leader", AIADMK leader M Thambidurai said she will get a "full majority" to rule the state and "there is no point" in forming a coalition government.
