Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
Can Vijay's strategy. vision outshine other TN parties?
"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.
For now, the BJP's strategy for Khushbu seems to be one of denial -- denying the rival Congress in the state and also at the national-level a Muslim voice acceptable to Hindu audiences and TV news-watchers. This is much less than the induction of DMK veterans like Duraiswamy and Selvam, who still have a greater chances of winning assembly seats,, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Celebrities and politicians made a beeline for polling stations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as both the states go to the polls on Monday.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
While the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam contested it under the seven-party Democratic Progressive Alliance banner, her party contested the polls on its own, the CM said.
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday challenged Home Minister Amit Shah to debate with him on his three press conferences in which the Congress leader alleged 'vote chori' by the Bharatiya Janata Party in collusion with the Election Commission.
Re-polling would be held in eight polling stations spread across six constituencies in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said.The re-polls were necessitated due to defective display of Electoral Voting Machines, damage of EVMs by unruly elements and also boycott of voters in one place protesting shifting of polling station among other reasons, he told mediapersons.
The party that shall head the alliance would be made known only during the elections and polls were not round the corner now, Chief Minister Palaniswami said when asked if the BJP or AIADMK would steward the combine in Tamil Nadu to fight the polls next year.
In the Tamil Nadu election, to be held next month, the AIMIM will contest three of Tamil Nadu's 234 seats -- Vaniyambadi, Krishnagiri and Sankarapuram.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of neighbouring Puducherry are likely to go to polls in April or May.
In his maiden public speech eight months after announcing the launch of TVK, Vijay said the late veterans MG Ramachandran and NT Ramarao were ridiculed as mere cinema actors when they made their political plunge "but they continue to remain in the hearts of the people" of the respective states, i.e Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government has always taken care of the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and 'consistently' flagged the issue of their rights with the leaders in the island nation.
"This election has upheld true democracy shattering to pieces the campaign of lies of DMK. This election has put a permanent full stop to the family rule," she said.
As US President Donald Trump claimed that India will significantly reduce Russian oil imports by year-end, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday hit back by criticising him for making announcements on behalf of New Delhi.
The BJP, which has allied with a few smaller parties, has sought to upend the state's conventional politics, which has so far been indifferent to Hindutva politics, by taking the ruling DMK head-on for its alleged insult of Sanatan Dharma besides involvement in corruption.
The decision has been taken to check the spread of coronavirus, the sources said.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said the arrest of former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G Spectrum scam raised more questions than answers and alleged that it was a "purely political" decision keeping in mind Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
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
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the NDA's victory in the Bihar assembly elections as a win for good governance, development, and social justice. He congratulated alliance partners and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.
Stalin, 68, was contesting as the chief ministerial candidate for the first time during these polls. He was elected unopposed as the DMK chief in August 2018, after the death of his father, a post that Karunanidhi held for 49 years. That didn't come as a surprise to anyone, as during his lifetime, Karunanidhi, on multiple occasions made his preference for his successor abundantly clear and systematically groomed him for the job.
It said the by-election will be held in 'due course when the vitiating effect created by the distribution of money and gift items to allure the electors...gets removed with the passage of time'.
It would be good if all political parties understood the advantages, he said.
With the initial poll preparations in West Bengal almost complete, the Election Commission is all set to turn its focus on Tamil Nadu, another key state where assembly polls are due early in 2006.
Assam may throw up a hung assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Congress there engaged in a neck and neck fight while Left Democratic Front could oust the Congress-led alliance in Kerala, an opinion poll has projected.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Always interesting, DMK politics is going to get even more absorbing in the days to come, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, on Thursday announced that it will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu and that it has begun talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The likes of Sengottaiyan can help Vijay navigate it better and faster -- but not necessarily to his goal, which is farther, and can move towards or away from him as well in the weeks and months to come, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Annamalai has faced criticism for the breakup between the AIADMK and the BJP, but BJP leaders say 'he attracts youth, who needs change'.
The Congress expected the DMK to allot a 'respectable number of seats'.
Everyone on election duty for the upcoming polls for five assemblies will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before polling day, the Election Commission said on Friday.
For the first 90 days of 2021, from January 5 onwards, one Union minister will visit one district in Tamil Nadu every week till the assembly election.
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.
