Veerasamy's angry outbursts was in connection with his charge that the PMK leader had built a college in farm lands in Villupuram district and Dr Ramadoss launching a mud slinging campaign against him, while stoutly denying the allegations against him.
Nedumaran called off his indefinite fast following an assurance from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that he will take steps for the dispatch of relief materials to the suffering Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Party said the Opposition demand is a part of a 'planned campaign' against Sasikala.
A political realignment seems to be on the cards in Tamil Nadu, with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reaching out to its former leader and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder Vaiko.
Tamil Nadu, the land of regional parties where the two Dravidian outfits have ruled the roost for long, is witnessing a few fledgling parties testing their electoral luck for the first time in the April 24 Lok Sabha elections, including Aam Aadmi Party and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi.
The prime minister said the opposition's hatred against him was reaching new levels daily and they have a competition over who abused him the most.
From the voter-level, traditionally anti-BJP, anti-Hindutva minorities and other secular voters would have an option, especially in the face of the mounting anti-incumbency against the ruling party -- as it happened in the 2001 assembly polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The sub-quota scheme may now lead to a ganging up of non-Vanniyars in individual constituencies against the Vanniyars just as in the past, such ganging up against SC-ST candidates was seen in the non-quota constituencies, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should meet the expectations of the people that prices will go down if he took over and 'it is the duty of the new government to do that.'
The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam maintained its winning streak in the two-phase local body elections in the nine newly created districts in Tamil Nadu trouncing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which had earlier suffered defeat in the April 6 assembly election.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder Dr S Ramadoss attributed the failure of the party in the April 13 Tamil Nadu assembly elections to the 'arrogance and lethargy' of the party workers.
The deaths brought back the focus on NEET in the state, with all political parties but for the BJP opposed to the qualifying exam.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi on Tuesday asked the United Nations and the international community, including India, to initiate steps for the formation of a separate Tamil nation within Sri Lanka for a lasting solution to ethnic strife as the island nation's measures for welfare of minority Tamils are not credible.'
A video clip of two Dravida Munnetra Kazagam men removing and throwing away two flex boards embossed with the name and picture of 'Amma' from a state-run canteen in Chenani went viral on Tuesday and they were expelled from the party.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi, which clinched a poll pact with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam recently, on Monday said it would extend "unconditional support" to the party to form a government if the combine won the Assembly polls due in May but will continue to raise "issues" being an alliance partner.
The DMK and PMK on Friday clinched an alliance for the coming Tamil Nadu assembly polls, under which the ruling party's junior partner has been allotted 31 assembly seats. The deal was finalised at a meeting between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss in Chennai. Karunanidhi, announcing the accord at the end of the nearly 90-minute meeting with his former ally, said the two parties had decided to fight the elections jointly.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu on Monday welcomed Karnataka government's decision to appeal against Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's acquittal in a wealth case, with DMK terming it as the "right" step by the ruling Congress party.
Controversy over the alleged suicide of senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader W R Varadrajan refused to die down as the offices of a television channel and the Left party were attacked on Friday allegedly by rival party workers over telecast of a report on the death of the Marxist leader.
'Religion must be in your home and in the temple, not in government functions.'
Talking to media persons in Chennai after chairing the party's emergent administrative committee meeting, which was attended by six parliamentarians and 18 legislators, PMK founder-leader Dr S Ramadoss said though different views were expressed in the meeting, the party had decided to renew talks with the DMK to sort the issue.
The war of words between the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and its estranged ally Pattali Makkal Katchi continued, with the latter accusing the ruling party of giving up the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils, whenever it came to power in the state. PMK founder S Ramadoss, in a statement, alleged that the DMK organised agitations on the issue when it was in the opposition and when it came to power, it gave up the issue.
In democracy, peaceful agitations and expressing opposition in a peaceful way were basic rights and in such circumstances, there should be a consensus on banning bandhs and general strikes in the country after a public debate, he said.
The Madras high court on Tuesday issued notice to All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa and government officials, on a petition by the Pattali Makkal Katchi accusing her of actuating the police to book its leaders and workers with a view to crush the party and sought a Special Investigation Team to look into all such cases.
The Congress secured the maximum of 48 seats.
The Tamil Protection Movement was floated, among others, by the PMK and the Dalit Panthers of India. It aims at making people in Tamil Nadu use Tamil in all walks of life.
Various opposition leaders in Tamil Nadu welcomed Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's conviction by a Bangalore special court in the disproportionate assets case and urged police to maintain law and order.
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan on Wednesday celebrated the Supreme Court verdict directing his release by playing the Tamil percussion instrument 'Parai' and now wants to breathe the air of freedom before thinking about his future, as the apex court ruling put an end to his three-decade prison term.
It is the third party in Tamil Nadu, after DMK and MDMK, to quit the BJP-led alliance.
New Union minister L Murugan's declaration of Kongu Nadu as his native place, instead of Tamil Nadu, may be part of a grand BJP strategy to create new states out of existing ones, particularly those that have anti-BJP governments, mulls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Southern Railway however clarified that the issue was the result of a particular user selecting Hindi as the preferred language while registering in the IRCTC website. 'Language is an option in e-ticketing,' a Southern Railway release said.
The chemical worth Rs 1.80 crore was seized from a Tamil Nadu-based importer in 2015, who had allegedly declared it as fertiliser grade although it was an explosive grade.
The announcement was made by AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal, party election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, who described it as a "mega alliance".
If Vijaykanth and his party stole the media thunder, which lingered in the viewers' mind even while watching Prime Minister Modi's thunderous campaign speech, the latter suffered also owing to visible 'disconnects', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Hours before he was to appear for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for a third time, a 19-year old youth belonging to a village near Salem died by suicide on Sunday, fearing the outcome of the test he was to take.
Given the subdued pre-poll voter-behaviour in the state over the past couple of decades and more, and the inability of individual political parties to cobble together an alliance and announce candidates, or both, to launch grassroots-level campaigns early on, close fights with landslide victory is an equal possibility, N Sathiyamoorthy.
After Shah said Hindi is the most spoken language which can unite the nation as a common language, Tamil Nadu parties rallied against it.
The DMK combine has won 37 of the 38 LS constituencies in Tamil Nadu, and bagged 13 of the 22 assembly bypolls. What swept away the AIADMK-BJP alliance in the southern state was not dravidian ideology but job loss and graft bias, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam might have been pushed into a corner to come up with a prohibition policy of its own, if only to create the right atmosphere for talking about an Opposition coalition in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Amidst a raging controversy over remarks on smoking by a Bharatiya Janata Party MP who is a 'beedi' baron, another Member of Parliament from the party Ram Prasad Sarmah on Friday waded into the row, claiming there is no clear proof yet linking cigarette puffing and cancer while wondering whether tobacco contains "herbal medicine"
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday passed a bill providing internal reservation of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars, a most backward community in government jobs and in admission to educational institutions.
