From social engineering to bearing the cost of COVID-19 treatment to financial reconstruction of Tamil Nadu's debt the debutant chief minister is emerging as a leader with a difference, says Shjne Jacob
They said the picture did not feature any 'life support system like a ventilator' and it was reassuring that their Thalaivar (leader) was recuperating well.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
The new entrants in Tamil Nadu politics, actor-turned-politicians Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, have decided to stay away from the elections, reports T E Narasimhan.
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for Tamil language and culture.
The internal feud in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam intensified on Thursday with the high command ordering suspension of five loyalists of M K Alagiri, elder son of party chief M Karunanidhi, over recurring instances of "mischievous posters" in Madurai.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
A formal decision would be made on the Chief Ministerial candidate of the NDA once the Election Commission issues the notification for the assembly elections, expected in April-May, he said, adding the strategy was part of the ongoing exercise to strengthen the BJP in the state.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M K Stalin will try his luck once again from Kolathur constituency in Chennai in the April 6 Tamil Nadu assembly elections while his son Udhayanidhi will make his electoral debut by contesting from the Chepauk-Triplicane segment in the metropolis.
"Stalin is the future of the party," said late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi about six years ago at a party meet when his son was party treasurer.
Dubbing as the beginning of the "imposition of Hindi", the National Democratic Alliance government's reported directive to officials to give priority to the language in the social media, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should focus on economic growth and social development.
Ending its decade long stint in the opposition, even relegated to the third spot in the House in 2011, the M K Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam made a spirited comeback to the ruling saddle to unseat its rival the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Jahnavi Mehta. Kaviya Maran. Preity Zinta.
The Modi government wants to have a smooth relationship with the DMK government.
Karunanidhi had expelled Azhagiri and his supporters from the party in 2014 at the height of his fight with his younger brother M K Stalin over establishing supremacy in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party.
Amusing spectacles unfold everyday with candidates attempting a variety of things from donning the role of a chef to washing clothes to woo voters, spicing up the campaign for the April 6 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Friday described Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as a 'hardworker' and a 'good friend.'
"Within a few weeks, Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister. In your (Gandhi's) hands the country will be safe we believe," he said.
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, who is smarting under the Assembly poll debacle and fallout of the 2G spectrum scam that has brought his family under the scanner, turned 88 on Friday, keeping his birthday celebrations on a low-key.
Hardening its stand, key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday slammed the Centre for its "lukewarm" response on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and threatened to walk out of the ruling alliance if it failed to move amendments to the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC.
Breaking his silence over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled at Colombo next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said a decision would be taken only after considering all relevant factors, including sentiments of Tamil people.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the state.
He was a nine-time MLA, one-time Lok Sabha member and former finance minister of Tamil Nadu and a close friend of former Chief Minister late Karunanidhi.
A Ganesh Nadar marvels at the grandiose state conference of the DMK, held in Tiruchirappalli over the weekend
Anything can happen, says a young Congress leader.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday condemned the petrol price hike and demanded that the government retain its control on the pricing of petroleum products, besides seeking a change in the pricing policy. Party chief M Karunanidhi said the issue had become similar to that of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen -- allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy -- with political leaders issuing statements expressing concern during such incidents.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagamchief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's statement -- that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's cadres were still trying very hard to revive the conflict -- was aimed at diverting the world's attention from the alleged human rights violations in the island republic.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday strongly criticised Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for ruling out greater political autonomy for Tamils, saying India should at least "wake up" now and help secure their livelihood and democratic rights.
For quite some time, there was speculation that actor-politician Kamal Haasan-led Makkal Needhi Maiam and the DMK would sign up with the strategist for the 2021 assembly polls.
'The financial situation of Tamil Nadu is much worse than it was in 2016.' 'The finance minister's is a horrendous job.' 'I am certainly not going to ask for it.'
Renewing his demand for abolishing death penalty, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday made a fresh pitch for a state cabinet meeting to adopt a resolution recommending commutation of the death sentence awarded to three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Debutante director Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi talks about her experience of making Vanakkam Chennai.
In further signs of fissures within DMK, party chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Alagiri on Monday skipped the crucial executive committee meet, which is likely to take key decisions in the wake of the party's pullout from the United Progressive Alliance.
In further signs of fissures within DMK, party chief M Karunanidhi's son M K Alagiri on Monday skipped the crucial executive committee meet, which is likely to take key decisions in the wake of the party's pullout from the United Progressive Alliance.
According to our Delhi correspondent, following the fallout with the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told outgoing Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri that she was taken by surprise after the DMK withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance chairperson.
Three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers -- S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan, S Jagatrakshakan -- on Wednesday submitted their resignations from the government to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But Union minister and DMK leader M K Alagiri was conspicuous by his absence.
Amid threat to pull out Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers and quit the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, party chief M Karunanidhi made a fresh demand insisting that Parliament adopt a resolution incorporating the two amendments he had suggested to the government to be moved on the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC.
Reacting to the criticism, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said the government could not initially allot space at the Marina beach for burying the DMK leader due to pending cases against construction of memorials on the famous sands.
Renu Mittal reports on how the United Progressive Alliance government is walking the tight-rope over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
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