Dr V Dekal, who heads the department of forensic sciences at the Madras Medical College, said he had put in his papers on March 3, over a fortnight before Batcha's suicide, to contest the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
Capitalising on the boycott by main opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance on Friday expectedly swept the by-polls to five Tamil Nadu assembly seats, trouncing actor-politician Vijaykant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam by impressive margins.
Sheela Bhatt analyses the gameplan behind the Congress's decision to play hardball in Tamil Nadu, to the extent that it doesn't care if the DMK walks out of the UPA government at the Centre.
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.
The first round of talks were described as "cordial" by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K V Thangkabalu, who is part of the five-member DMK panel which has Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin among other members.
Tired with the numerous allegations of cash-for-votes emerging from Tamil Nadu, the Election Commission has decided to blacklist 25 officials of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service.The blacklisted officials, who have violated their poll duties earlier, will not be enlisted for the ensuing Tamil Nadu assembly elections.A decision will be taken on these 25 officers by the end of July when the state election commissioner sends a report.
A Raja, the former telecom minister who stepped down from his post in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam, does not appear in the list of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders who will campaign from 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly elections. This list was finalised on Thursday by DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
Days after securing a thumping victory in the R K Nagar by-poll in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took oath on Saturday as member of the Legislative Assembly.
President Pranab Mukherjee created a flutter in the Congress party by agreeing to meet 40 Congress MLAs from Andhra Pradesh.
AIADMK MLAs were on Wednesday suspended till Friday by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker R Avudaiyappan after they were evicted from the House en masse for creating rumpus over remarks made by a ruling DMK member.
Setting the cat among the pigeons, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi hinted that he was retiring to 'work among the oppressed people' from 2010. The Tamil Nadu Assembly elections are due in 2011.
Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Tuesday evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu assembly after they disrupted the proceedings by raising slogans to demand the passage of a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. Speaker R Avudaiyappan ordered the eviction following a request from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who said raising slogans inside the House was 'uncultured'.
DMDK leader Vijaykant is observing a one-day token fast at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to express solidarity with the minority Tamil population in Sri Lanka. Addressing his supporters in Tamil, the actor-turned-politician alleged that fishermen from Tamil Nadu were being kidnapped and killed, while they were out fishing on the high seas.Vijaykant, an actor-turned-legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, is known as the 'Black MGR' among his fans and followers.
The video recording of the House proceedings on February 18 must be from the commencement till the end, the court said.
Expressing anguish over India's decision to participate in the upcoming CHOGM in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Assembly today passed a resolution at its emergent session demanding "complete boycott" of the summit, as Congress and two other parties kept away from voting.
It would be good if all political parties understood the advantages, he said.
Highlighting its tough stand against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Congress on Friday asserted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that it won't relent till the Tigers' Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, a proclaimed offender in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, was arrested, extradited and prosecuted in India.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly session, beginning Wednesday, could well turn out to be its last at the 17th century Fort St. George as the 58-year-old Legislature would shortly be moving to its upcoming Rs 425-crore complex.
Ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu on February 8, there are some important questions facing her. One, does she carry electoral weight more now than her brainchild AMMK had in the 2019 LS polls? Two, can she retain or build upon the five per cent vote-share from that time? And finally, is there space for Sasikala to retrieve, first within the AIADMK and then across the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The incident reportedly took place at Salem during the actor-politician's visit to participate in a consultative meeting there for the May 16 Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
'They are going to be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections which are six months away.' 'These people who are ruling Tamil Nadu know very well that they cannot win another election.'
The Sri Lankan government had recently announced a 48-hour ceasefire solely due to the efforts of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, the Congress party said in the Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday.
It looked as if the BJP was hoping to use Rajinikanth to press their seat-bargain with the AIADMK. Now with the Rajini bait gone, the question now is not how much the BJP would settle for, but how much the AIADMK would be ready to offer, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Utter confusion prevails in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.
Amid tight security, polling for the by-election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Tirumangalam constituency began on a peaceful note with about 15 per cent of the total 1.55 lakh electorate, exercising their votes by 1000 hrs, officials said.
Higher education policy may be at the core of the Tamil Nadu assembly polls next May, with a potential to break the ties between the ruling AIADMK in the state and the BJP counterpart at the national level, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
He made an announcement in this regard at an election rally in Chennai on Saturday.
Justice K Suguna, while granting the interim stay, also ordered issue of notice, returnable by four weeks, to the secretary, State Legislative Assembly and chairman, Committee of Privileges and Stalin.
The DMK chief said it was a 'resounding victory' given to his party led alliance by the people of Tamil Nadu.
As the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for the Rajya Sabha biennial polls ended on Wednesday evening, legislative secretaries of the respective states announced its elected members. There were no surprises, with most seats assigned to the nominees unopposed.
Glowing tributes were paid to the departed leader in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, before the Houses were adjourned for the day.
The party said though actor-turned-politician Vijaykant, who founded the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, speaks about people's problems, his economic policies were not known. The Pattali Makkal Katchi was also raising a lot of people's problems
The Speaker, responding to pleas by DMK's KN Nehru, who was not among those suspended since he was not present in the House on August 17, made it clear that there was no reviewing of his decision to suspend the agitating DMK legislators for a week.
The Bill, which will replace an ordinance promulgated last month, was unanimously passed by voice vote amidst thumping of desks by members of the House. The Bill sought to provide three-and-a-half per cent reservation each to Muslims and Christians within the 30 per cent reservation provided for backward classes as per a law enacted in 1994.
MLAs from the Opposition AIADMK were suspended for the rest of the monsoon session when they created a ruckus in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday. The MLAs shouted slogans and created chaotic scenes when Tamil Nadu local administration minister M K Stalin's raised a privilege issue in the state assembly against AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. Stalin's speech was hardly audible as AIADMK members kept on shouting slogans and creating chaotic scenes.
The farmers, who have been staging a protest for the past 41 days demanding a Rs-40,000 crore drought relief package, farm loan waiver and setting up of the Cauvery Management Board by the Centre
Delivering his customary address to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Governor S S Barnala said about 100 amendments have been made so far to the Constitution to take care of emerging unavoidable needs.
According to rough figures available, about 65 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise.
Leader of the House K Anbazhagan moved the resolution seeking to suspend A K Bose who represents Thiruparakundram constituency for Thursday's incident in the House.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances