Should Kanimozhi be spared from imprisonment in the 2G spectrum scam because she is a woman, as Sonia Gandhi implied on Tuesday? Sheela Bhatt presents the counter-argument
As many as 28 out of 41 sitting women MPs, including Sonia Gandhi, Hema Malini and Kirron Kher, retained their seats in Lok Sabha.
Smarting under the electoral debacle and arrest of party MP Kanimozhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday made a token presence at the second anniversary celebrations of UPA-II where none of its six Union ministers were present.
The answer to this million-dollar question may lie behind certain recent developments. Shahid Usman Balwa, Swan Telecom promoter and an accused in the 2G scam case, on May 18
Counting's underway and the fate of the candidates is awaited. As we wait for the results with bated breath, here's how your heavyweights are faring for now.
In a crackdown as part of the 2G spectrum scam probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday searched 34 offices and residences of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradip Baijal, siblings of ex-Telecom Minister A Raja and an NGO linked to Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday carried out raids at 27 places in Tamil Nadu and seven places in Delhi in connection with its probe in the 2G spectrum scam.The CBI also raided the residence of former chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Pradip Baijal in connection with the scam. CBI sleuths also raided the residence of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia in connection with the probe in 2G spectrum allocation scam.
His party colleague and successor in the telecom ministry A Raja and his relative Kanimozhi are currently in Tihar jail in connection with the scam.
The real battle for NEET abolition can take much more time and energy, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar, while terming 'corruption as the worst form of human rights violation,' asked CBI to come out with a status report on the loss to the state exchequer because of the award of 13 licences to one of the telecom operators and trial proceedings in the CBI special court.
Cineyug Films Director Karim Morani, an accused in the 2G spectrum case, was on Monday arrested and taken into judicial custody after a Delhi court rejected his bail plea. Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge O P Saini refused the plea of Morani who is charged with facilitating the transaction of Rs 200 crore from DB Realty to Kalaignar TV, in which Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Kanimozhi holds 20 per cent stake.
The actor's younger daughter, Soundarya, who is directing her father in an animation movie Sultan, got engaged to Ashwin Kumar in Chennai on Wednesday.
Upset over the arrest of Kanimozhi in 2G scam, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday said he was in a position like that of any father whose daughter faced a similar situation for no fault of hers and said the party general council would decide on future ties with Congress.
Dayalu Ammal, wife of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and additional director of Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, has told the Central Bureau of Investigation that she was not aware of the source of Rs 200 crore which came to the channel in which she has 60 per cent share.
Noting that the probe is aimed at unearthing the truth on the 2G issue, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters "it is not proper to connect that issue (of Congress-DMK ties) with this".
Karunanidhi made the announcement in his concluding remarks at the meeting of the party's key decision-making body, the general council, on Sunday to rapturous applause from members, reflecting the anti-Congress mood in the party ranks.
The tough question before the DMK and its leader MK Stalin now is, what should their response be if sounded out for an alliance by the BJP for or after the next parliamentary polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The accused had also requested the court to take on record the written answers afresh.
His maiden tweet read "citizens should voice own views for a strong Tamil Nadu and integral India".
Kanimozhi told reporters that the Palaniswami-led government has become 'bloodthirsty' and the chief minister should be held responsible for the incident.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to Colombo to apprise him of the ethnic Tamils issue, Sri Lankan Tamil MP Arumuga Thondaiman claimed today.
Narayanan, who will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, is expected to take up issues like devolution of powers to Tamils in the island and their immediate rehabilitation in view of their sufferings undergone during the current war.
As the second phase of polling commenced on Thursday amid heightened security, bigwigs came out to cast their votes for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha. Among those who took to their respective polling booths were former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, BJP candidate from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.
A delegation of MPs from Tamil Nadu on Saturday arrived on a five-day visit to Sri Lanka, during which they will visit camps where Tamils displaced due to the civil war are currently lodged.
Questioning whether "New India" can be ever run by this "kleptocrat's club", Jaitley said those who have lent support to the West Bengal dharna are those who are battling serious allegations of economic improprieties
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.
DMK president M Karunanidhi today said he did not "see" LTTE chief V Prabhakaran as a terrorist and would be saddened if he is killed in the ongoing fighting in Sri Lanka.
Karunanidhi, 94, died at the Kauvery hospital on Tuesday following prolonged illness.
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
"I do not want to boast (about) anything. The court's judgment has to be respected. I am glad that the court has pronounced unambiguously. All the massive propaganda which was being done against the UPA was without any foundation. The judgment speaks for itself," the former PM said.
Jayalalithaa and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday crossed swords over Tamil Nadu putting on hold the Hogenakkal water project, with the AIADMK supremo alleging that the DMK leader was expecting a cabinet berth for his daughter M P Kanimozhi, prompting him to take the decision.The former chief minister also said that Karunanidhi had betrayed the interests of the state and demanded his resignation.But Karunanidhi refuted the charge.
The opposition would push for the passage of the two bills -- the farmers' freedom from indebtedness bill and the farmers' right to guaranteed remunerative minimum support prices for agriculture commodities bill -- in the Rajya Sabha
The move is being seen as an attempt to forge opposition unity to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
The protests will highlight the impact of the twin blows of demonetisation and GST
Efforts by the Maran brothers to patch up with their grand uncle and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi appeared to have failed on Tuesday as they went to greet him on his 85th birthday but had to leave without a meeting.Karunanidhi's son M K Azhagiri said Kalanidhi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran "came to meet my father at my sister Kanimozhi's house and greet him on his birthday but my father refused to meet them. After waiting for more than half an hour, they left".
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While nearly 200 members were present in the Lok Sabha chamber, a little over 30 were seated in the visitors' gallery located above the main chamber.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi was re-elected as party president for the 11th time in a row by the newly constituted general council on Friday.
The murder charges capped dramatic developments both in the court and outside where a woman head constable witness to the happenings told a Magisterial probe that the two traders were thrashed an entire night by the other police personnel at Sathankulam station where they were detained over alleged lockdown violations late last month.
