DMDK founder-president Vijayakant along with party presidium chairman Panruti Ramachandran and Youth wing secretary Sudheesh called on Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence in Chennai on Friday night to cement the pact under which the party had been allotted 41 seats, a joint statement released to the media said.
Vijayakanth was unwell for quite some time and his wife Premalatha took over the reins of the party days ago.
"Congratulations to Mamata Didi for @AITCofficial's win in West Bengal. The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfil people's aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic," he tweeted.
Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Weeks ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, V K Sasikala, expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and close aide of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, on Wednesday announced that "she will stay away from politics," but would pray for the "golden rule" of the late party supremo.
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.
A new entrant, whether a popular actor or not, has not been able to sweep the polls, as their fans had hoped for. Given a proven pattern, it should hold true for Vijay as well. Or, something drastically has to happen between now and 2026, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress's second AICC session in Gujarat post-Independence is being held on the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's party presidency and the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party would deliberate on its failures and do course correction after internal deliberations.
Facing the opposition benches, it is the 11th portrait to adorn the House.
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 DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
Nineteen political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, received over Rs 1,100 crore during assembly polls in five states and Union territories in 2021 and spent over Rs 500 crore, a big chunk of which went towards advertisements and travel expenses for star campaigners, a study said on Friday.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
A plea challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct assembly elections over eight phases in West Bengal was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.
The deadlock over seat sharing between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Congress for the Tamil Nadu polls came to an end on Tuesday.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
Union Fertilizer Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam strongman MK Alagiri is keen to return to Tamil Nadu politics. He may do so by relinquishing his Union minister position by mid December to campaign for DMK in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu for the assembly elections in 2011.
Stalin, in an interview to a daily, has refuted the FM's allegations, saying "everyone present in the Assembly knew it was a drama enacted by herself," referring to the late Jayalalithaa.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
The Election Commission of India has released detailed statistical data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, revealing a record voter turnout of 64.64 crore, with women outnumbering men. The data also highlights the participation of women candidates and the use of postal ballots, along with insights into overseas Indian electors.
The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove at once, all the posters put up by political parties in furtherance of the local body elections, scheduled for February 19, throughout Chennai.
Kanugolu had also made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the party's central leadership but regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly were not on the same page as the poll strategist.
His investigations have not revealed anything alarming so far, it said. The 70-year old actor is scheduled for a further set of investigations on Saturday, reports of which would be available by the evening, it said.
Digital canvassing is expected to benefit from political money looking for alternative blow horns.
Shobha Warrier analyses why Srirangam, with its large chunk of Vaishnavite Brahmin population, makes perfect sense for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalitha decision to contest an election from there.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress were locked in a battle of attrition, a day after the regional party announced pulling out its ministers from the United Progressive Alliance government with neither party making any moves to break the deadlock in the aftermath of failure of seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The biggest significance of Friday night's statement from Chief Minister Karunanidhi is that this is the first time in many months that the DMK has spoken openly about the alliance and negotiations in public.
'Strategy is to divide and polarise electorate on communal lines.'
With the cane crushing season set to commence on November 15, lakhs of cutters from various districts have already migrated to the sugarcane belts in western Maharashtra and many other states, according to the Maharashtra Sugarcane Cutters and Transport Association.
Promising to positively consider several representations of Christians including site for cemetries, Palaniswami, in an apparent reference to his party's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for assembly polls likely in April, said electoral tie-ups were different from ideology.
Annamalai has faced criticism for the breakup between the AIADMK and the BJP, but BJP leaders say 'he attracts youth, who needs change'.
The minister said the Centre will soon keep its stand clear in front of SC.
After Shah said Hindi is the most spoken language which can unite the nation as a common language, Tamil Nadu parties rallied against it.
Venugopal told the court that he had given legal opinion to the AIADMK faction led by Panneerselvam.
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.
The BJP promised revival of the legislative council in Tamil Nadu, which was abolished decades ago by its ally, the ruling AIADMK, if their combine was voted to power in the coming assembly elections.
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said discussions were on for his party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM)'s political alliance and stressed it would support any bloc that would 'selflessly' think about the nation but desist from being part of 'feudal politics'.
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