What will the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government do to answer the queries and fears of investors who will want to be doubly sure they would not be harassed at a later date, as has been happening to Sterlite, should be interesting to watch, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
If the DMK is able to sustain the momentum until the assembly polls, the AIADMK especially and the PMK and possibly the infant TVK too would find it hard to sign up with the BJP, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Rajya Sabha elections saw several candidates elected unopposed, including Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale, while Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana prepare for contested elections.
The AIADMK swept the polls winning 37 of the 39 seats, leaving DMK, its rivals, and the BJP to do a serious rethinking before the assembly elections in 2016, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The EC's actions remain to be seen on 'money-hoarding and transportation' for poll-time use. The question remains if the polity in the state would push the EC so far as to use the countermanding option. Even then EC would have to push its constitutional powers to find a way to prevent 'money-power' in the state's elections, says N Sathiya Moorthy
While the DMK depends on a 'silver sieve' of welfare schemes to stay in power, its support is slowly draining away under the weight of poor governance, corruption, and voters who are no longer satisfied with benefits alone and now want basic administration to work, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Vijay is counting on what was once proclaimed as his last filmi outing, Jana Nayagan, or 'People's Hero', to do the trick for him, when it releases on January 9, 2026, only months before the assembly poll, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Now if you break the party under the 10th Schedule you have to join another party.' 'You cannot join the NDA as it is not a party. You can only join another party, and that is the BJP.' 'So the question to ask is that these so-called 20 TMC Lok Sabha MPs who are parting ways with the TMC, are they ready to join the BJP and accept Narendra Modi as their leader?'
The Election Commission is expected to initiate a phased, pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list, prioritizing states with upcoming assembly elections. This cleanup exercise aims to weed out illegal foreign migrants and ensure accurate electoral rolls.
If purists are surprised as to why and how people are not demanding prohibition or not talking about past promises, both in the election manifestos five years back and even those made to the courts, the answer lies in how the state has been evolving and changing these past few years, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Issues such as seat sharing and being part of the DMK led government were not a priority now and that the main goal was to ensure that DMK comes to power.
When M K Stalin attended the Jayalalithaa government's swearing-in and the chief minister thanked him for the gesture, a new page was turned in the state's political lexicon, reports B Srikumar.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan questioned the attempts being made to implement the SIR in poll-bound Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal while the Constitutional validity of the Bihar SIR process is under consideration by the Supreme Court.
The assembly polls in the state have shown that the GenNext voters want change -- not necessarily of leaderships but of their behaviour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids on executives of political consultancy firm I-PAC and others in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.
Actor-politician Vijay held his first public meeting in Puducherry, criticising the central government for neglecting the union territory's demand for statehood and praising the local government's impartiality. He also targeted the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, suggesting they could learn from Puducherry.
Since 2004, 12 states have added 160 million people to their rolls.
As Tamil Nadu gears up for elections, a clash of films with distinct political ideologies is set to unfold at the box office, mirroring the rivalry between political parties.
'Stalin's intention is plain and simple.' 'The DMK wants to convert what is an 'incumbency-centred' election for the party-led alliance into one more 'Modi/BJP election' after Stalin's successive success in 2019 and 2021, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP has nominated Sanjay Bhatia, its former MP from Karnal, for the upcoming Rajya Sabha poll from Haryana. This decision comes as two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana are set to fall vacant, prompting elections scheduled for March 16.
The ruling NDA alliance has secured a majority in the Rajya Sabha elections, winning key seats in Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana, while other candidates were elected unopposed across multiple states. The elections were marked by cross-voting allegations and political maneuvering.
Speaking to Rediff.com in New Delhi on Wednesday, Javadekar, who had visited Chennai last week and met Vijayakanth at the latter's home, said the negotiations between the two parties were on and there was no break-up as reported by some sections of the media.
The parleys, according to a BJP senior, were cordial and the deal is likely to be clinched soon.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announces the debate and vote on the no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will occur on March 9. The Budget Session's second part will also address important legislation and critical bills.
Like his father Karunanidhi and AIADMK rivals MGR and Jayalalithaa, Stalin would like to confine his real political work to Tamil Nadu, and not want to take after the late Congress leader K Kamaraj and take up a national role, even if to create greater political space for son Udhayanidhi, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Look at the way SIR that was implemented in Bengal. They wanted to entirely curate the voter list in order to suit their purposes and victory.' 'Look at the targeted deletions and the targeted voting list.' 'The difference between the TMC and the BJP was only about 4% but that 4% vote was done so selectively that the difference ultimately showed up as 100 seats!'
Petrol and diesel prices in India have been increased by Rs 3 per litre each, marking the first rate hike in over four years. This decision follows a period of stable prices during recent state elections, despite rising global crude oil prices and significant losses for fuel retailers.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman criticizes the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, alleging corruption, caste-based crimes, and a rise in drug abuse. She dismisses the DMK's claims about language and Dravidian identity as a distraction from their governance failures.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday admitted that 'as of now, some assurances such as getting NEET scrapped', could not be fulfilled.
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.
Jan Suraaj Spokesperson and one of the key architects of the Party, Pavan Verma, levelled serious allegations that funds from the World Bank meant for some other project were diverted for the Bihar Assembly elections by the central government and distributed to women voters in the state.
Tamil Nadu's politics returns to being bi-polar, and that's a good thing, says B Srikumar.
Both Mr Modi and Amit Shah like Nabin because they know he will never answer back, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The extent of doubts over the fairness of this election can be assessed by juxtaposing two figures: Total votes polled by the two principal parties and the number of people who were disallowed from voting this time, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Flowing from an inadequate understanding of Tamil history and politics is an urban elitist mindset that does not seem to be able to touch and feel the real angst of the larger Tamil-speaking masses, cutting across the social and economic status of the individual, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has asserted that alliances are formed only at the time of elections and declined to categorically say if his party would align with the BJP for the 2026 Assembly polls. Palaniswami met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday and brought to his attention several issues faced by Tamil Nadu, including the need for funds release, the implementation of the Godavari-Cauvery river linking plan, and a probe into the "TASMAC scam." He said that while the party would decide on an alliance at the time of the election, he did not rule out a tie-up with the BJP.
After a gap of 10 years, the DMK snatched the reins of power from arch rival AIADMK, with its president M K Stalin leading the party to a stellar performance and in the process, helming the state as chief minister for the first time.
Under the TMC, Bengal has seen expansion of welfare, but not big-ticket private investment.
Actor Kamal Haasan launched Makkal Needhi Miam at a public meeting in Madurai in 2018.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bharatiya Janata Party and all the alliance parties will contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu together under the National Democratic Alliance. The significant political development comes ahead of the TN Assembly election to be held in 2026,
