The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
Rahul Gandhi is neither Congress president, office-bearer nor Congress leader in Parliament. This technical leeway provides adequate cover for Shiv Sena-Congress ties taking a nosedive, says Rasheed Kidwai.
Just a day after Tamil Nadu Bhartiya Janta Party chief K Annamalai met Governor R N Ravi in connection with the alleged security lapse during Prime Minister Narednra Modi's visit, Director General of Police Sylendra Babu said that there was no security lapse during the visit and everything went fine.
If either faction of the AIADMK failed to muster a floor majority, then the governor would be called upon to ask MK Stalin as the leader of the opposition if he would like to try his hand at government formation.
R Rajagopalan, who travelled through Tamil Nadu, says it will be an election of many firsts.
Dravida Munnetra Kazahagam on Monday said it has decided to file an appeal against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's acquittal in a wealth case by the Karnataka high court.
Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes when DMK members strongly protested remarks made by a ruling AIADMK member apparently ridiculing Leader of Opposition M K Stalin, culminating in their en masse eviction and suspension.
Promising to espouse the cause of Tamils living the world over, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to press the Centre to take steps for conducting a referendum among Tamils in Lanka for their homeland and to appoint only Tamil envoys to nations which have a sizeable Diaspora.
Given the politics behind it all, one possibility is for binding the governor to act according to the decisions of the state government and clarifying his position vis a vis bills and resolutions passed by the state assembly -- or, re-enacted if returned, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
If Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai bought it in 2015, did he get prior approval from the Union home ministry, and did he include it in his annual wealth returns, sections of the media want to know. N Sathiya Moorthy on the curious case of the 'Rafale' watch.
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
By keeping the Sanatana Dharma row alive and adding the Ayodhya temple consecration scheduled for January 22 and adding the free darshan promise from four polled states to the entire country, the BJP may have a self-fulfilling concoction, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK insiders see the very idea of an NDA conclave as a measure of the BJP's current electoral assessment, stemming from relative weakness in 2024 compared to 2014 and 2019. In their reckoning, the BJP now needs allies more than the other way round, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a state that usually plumbs for a Dravidian major, three candidates have a chance of delivering for the BJP, observes A Ganesh Nadar.
With the assembly polls only two years away, in 2026, any demoralising defeat in 2024, would challenge not only the party's continued relevance but also EPS's leadership, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The achievements without the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) were not enough for the future, Ravi said, adding the qualifying test is here to stay.
Alleging lack of intra-party democracy in the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, former union minister D Napoleon on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has set eyes on strengthening its presence in Tamil Nadu ahead of 2016 assembly elections.
He also launched a strident attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was 'globe-trotting', afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence.
'It is not going to be a fight between the AIADMK and the DMK; that fight is over.' 'The fight is going to be between the BJP's attempt to finish the Dravidian era and the DMK and the others trying to prevent the BJP from doing so.'
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.
Stalin, along with senior leader K N Nehru began the fast at 9 am at Uzhavar Sandhai grounds.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday night withdrew its support to the United Progressive Alliance over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and ruled out any reconsideration, a move that makes the government vulnerable despite its assertions of having a Parliamentary majority.
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Over 260 eminent citizens, including former judges and bureaucrats, have written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud urging him to take cognisance of DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's 'eradicate Sanatan Dharma' comment, calling it "hate speech".
It was the DMK, whose opposition to divestment in the Nevyeli Lignite Corp, led to the previous UPA decision to put on hold all its divestment decisions and proposals.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on the hit-list, not because the chief minister was unhappy with his performance, but because there were constant complaints from other ministers that he was sitting on their files far too long, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Speaker Om Birla sought to calm down opposition members, noting that a different system was in place to run the Sansad TV after it was created following the merger of the Lok Sabha TV and the Rajya Sabha TV.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday said it would soon move a no-confidence motion against Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal as it accused him of "deliberately harping on his community to malign" the party.
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.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on Thursday relieved of the finance portfolio by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
DMK Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu told reporters in New Delhi that Tamil Nadu Law Minister S Regupathy, who led a delegation, handed over to the President what state Chief Minister M K Stalin has 'written', but repeatedly insisted the content of the communication was only known to the CM.
Stalin said one cannot and should not decide the mood of the entire country based on the results of one state elections.
A division bench comprising justices S Manikumar and Subranmonium Prasad rejected the contention by additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan that the petition filed by the DMK as a "political interest litigation" and moved to push its agenda.
''He had given tools to fight all forms of homogenisation.'
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Arjunan claimed that some persons belonging to the DMK in the guise of public abused him and his mother.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party's high-level action committee, the channel reported.
With the Budget and the Finance Bill yet to be passed, senior Congress leaders have gone into overdrive to salvage the situation and save the government and ensure that the DMK with its 18 MPs is back on track as far as the UPA is concerned.
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.
However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
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