Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder Dr S Ramadoss has announced taking up the complete reins of the party, relegating his president son Anbumani to the role of working president. The move, announced ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Chennai, comes in anticipation of the 2026 Assembly election.
'No member of Pattali Makkal Katchi should maintain any association with Anbumani...
'If anyone does so, they too will face strict disciplinary action.'
The precedence given to 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jana Gana Mana' over the 'Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu' has triggered a controversy in Tamil Nadu, with political parties condemning the decision to relegate the Tamil invocation to third place at the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Joseph C Vijay.
Building a party from scratch and leading it to electoral success is an entirely different challenge.
Pattali Makkal Katchi President Anbumani on Saturday opposed a decision of his father, party founder S Ramadoss, in a party meeting in Puducherry on Saturday, and the octogenarian leader curtly said those who do not wish to follow his diktats should quit the outfit.
The PMK leader said that he came into the NDA fold to defeat the "anti-people" ruling DMK.
Two people, including a migrant worker, were allegedly hacked to death by a gang in Nanguneri, Tamil Nadu, sparking protests and political criticism.
In apparent signs of thaw after years of bickering stemming out of internal feud in the AIADMK in the past, party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami welcomed Dhinakaran back in to the National Democratic Alliance. The AMMK founder reciprocated with a "heartfelt thanks," yet admitting there was "sibling rivalry" with AIADMK, the party he was once associated with.
Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa claims Uttar Pradesh's development is funded by Tamil Nadu's tax contributions to the central government, sparking a political debate over regional economic disparities.
Successive elections since 2019 have proved that the Modi charisma and Shah's strategy does not work in Tamil Nadu. Now, they have to see next year if the DMK is capable of losing, whether to an existing NDA alliance or an expanded version, if one becomes necessary and possible!, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sowmiya Anbumani is the president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO involved in conservation of nature.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss and his son, former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, in connection with the murder of a relative of Tamil Nadu minister for Commercial taxes C Ve Shanmugam, sources said.
EPS' acceptance of Amit Shah's proposal for an electoral alliance with the BJP is being interpreted to mean how the AIADMK has signed up the NDA national leader as a junior partner. Not many have appreciated EPS for this strategic move that has now forced the BJP to play second fiddle to the AIADMK. This has meant that the BJP has buried its ambitions of capturing power in Tamil Nadu now, and is willing to wait until after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder leader S Ramadoss, whose arrest on April 30 triggered violence in several parts of Tamil Nadu, was on Saturday released from the central prison in Tiruchirappalli after he obtained bail in all five cases against him. The leader slammed the Jayalalithaa government for arresting him and scores of PMK activists.
The 36-year-old victim sustained fractures on her hand and leg.
An Anna University girl student was allegedly sexually assaulted and a 37-year old man, who sells biryani on the pavement, has been arrested for the crime, police said on Wednesday.
Chief Minister M K Stalin has ordered a CB-CID probe to ensure comprehensive investigation and the government transferred Kallakurichi District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena was suspended, a statement said.
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.
State school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi assured that action will be taken against the speaker for his controversial speech at a government school in Chennai.
The BJP's parliamentary board, which held a meeting at 11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had inconclusive deliberations about the alliance of the southern states on Friday.
In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
The BJP is now inventing new angles to keep its campaign relevant -- even if it's old wine in an old bottle, which is what the allegation on 'Katchatheevu' is, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
If the BJP has to work as a junior partner of Vijay's TVK, then either the party will have to change the state leader, or the latter should change himself. Incidentally, ever since Vijay started talking politics and elections, the pro-BJP/Hindutva social media had stopped dragging his name into any non-existing issue.' In particular, they have stopped referring to him by his Christian name, 'Joseph Vijay', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin still enjoys a lot of sympathy and empathy as someone wishing well for the state, but not full-throated support as in 2019 and 2021, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu's obsession for honorifics appears to be a never-ending story. The latest is the "Ezhuchi Nayagan" (rising leader) title for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's new interim general secretary K Palaniswami, proposed by the party's presidium chairman Tamil Magan Hussain in Chennai on Monday.
Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Claiming that the All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, headed by Jayalalithaa, would be isolated in the electoral arena, he said her hopes of weaning away the PMK to its fold would not succeed.
After visiting those being treated at Villupuram government medical college hospital, Chief Minister MK Stalin told reporters Villupuram that investigation into the matter would be transferred to the CB-CID and he assured tough action.
Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Under the deal, the PMK will be supporting the AIADMK in the bypolls expected to 21 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, he said.
Former Union minister and Paattali Makkal Katchi candidate for Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency Anbumani Ramadoss was on Saturday booked for allegedly attempting to incite people on caste lines, officials said.
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Monday issued an order terming the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for the Vanniyars community in Tamil Nadu as 'unconstitutional.'
EPS' real test will commence with a decision whether or not to patch up with OPS and on what terms -- and then, to decide whether or not to have the BJP for an electoral ally, come 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Those running a caste-based political party here [in Tamil Nadu] and claiming that they are the champions of the Tamil language, cling to power by aligning with North Indian parties," Vijaykant said taking a dig at PMK leader Ramadoss.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder-leader Dr S Ramadoss on Monday said that his party has not taken a final decision about joining the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam-Congress combine to fight the Tamil Nadu assembly poll. On Sunday, DMK chief and TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had told the media in Delhi that the PMK will fight the state polls with the DMK-Congress alliance. Many other political parties had also approached the PMK to forge a coalition.
Buoyed by the Centre's nod for the creation of Telangana, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss on Saturday made a fresh demand for bifurcation of Tamil Nadu, saying it would be good on administrative grounds.
The Union Health Ministry will take up initiatives to check occupational health hazards faced by employees in the IT and ITES sector.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi said on Sunday that it has decided to snap ties with the front led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa.All was not well in AIADMK-led front after Jayalalithaa recently gave permission to her party MLA C V Shanmugam to file a case in a court seeking to direct the police to include PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and his son and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in a murder case.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder Dr S Ramadoss on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and expressed concern over the killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Centre should not be a silent spectator to the suffering of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Ramadoss told Gandhi.The Sri Lankan Tamil issue has come to the forefront of national politics after Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani participated in a rally organised by Vaiko in New Delhi last week.
