Nitin Nabin, a five-time Bihar MLA, has been elected unopposed as the BJP national president, becoming the youngest person to hold the position. His appointment signals a generational shift in the party's leadership as it prepares for key state elections.
Attempting to defuse the controversy, the Nishad Party chief said the comment, made in Hindi and labelled misogynistic and crude, was light-hearted and made casually.
The issue arose after TCS dismissed hundreds of employees in January 2015, leading to the formation of the IT Employees Wing supported by the NDLF.
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.
'With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami's side.' 'There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent,' says R Rajagopalan.
With the Madras high court declining to stay the Tamil Nadu government's order granting them remission, as many as 1,405 life convicts were on Monday released from various prisons in the state on the occasion of the birth centenary of late chief minister C N Annadurai.
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.
A performance that will touch your heart.
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.
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.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
'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 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.
Reaffirming his unflinching loyalty to his jailed leader All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa, newly sworn in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Monday chose not to enter the designated chamber for the head of state at the secretariat but function from his erstwhile Minister's office.
Why has the friendship between Jayalalithaa and Sasikala, that lasted almost 25 years, soured all of a sudden, asks Shobha Warrier
While leaders alleged wrongful rendition of the Tamil anthem and BJP said mother Tamil has taught the Dy CM a 'lesson', Udhayanidhi dismissed such claims and asserted the microphone did not function properly and that it was a technical fault.
Sacred spots and soaring peaks: Bucket-listing across the heartland. Roopa Unnikrishnan and her father journey through the heart of India.
There is no alternative for the party and the state to wait for CM Jaya to return home as CM Jaya, and make her call, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a lot of ways, Tamil Nadu votes exactly as do other states. But at places there are crucial differences.
The DMK may consider a two-tier campaign, where they keep the focus on Chief Minister Stalin, as a senior statesman with 50-plus years of political experience, and let EPS and the BJP shout in the wilderness. In such a case, the second-tier may project Udhayanidhi as the contender and chosen obstructionist in Vijay's path. The attempt, if any, would be to reduce Vijay to Udhayanidhi's level when the former is aiming at Stalin and Stalin alone in the state's political horizon, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismisses media speculation about a possible change in the state's leadership, reiterating that he will abide by the Congress high command's decision.
Heavy to very heavy rainfall was expected over north Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next 24 hours.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said 14 people have been killed in rain-related incidents since October 20, taking the toll to 34 since the onset of the north-east monsoon last week.
Ratcheting up its pressure in the snowballing Mullaperiyar dam row with Tamil Nadu, the Kerala Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution insisting on a new dam to replace the 116-year old reservoir.
'The feeling is that Rajinikanth is pro-Modi than anti-Modi.'
In one village, a woman asks, "They are always showing cash seizures on television, you think some of it will escape and we will get money as usual?" "Only 1 percent of cash is actually seized, the rest has arrived, you don't worry," a party worker assures her. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar reports on the election in the southern-most tip of the country.
An SIT investigating the Sabarimala gold loss case has questioned former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran. The interrogation has sparked political controversy, with opposition parties alleging interference in the investigation.
'Why should children, who are already burdened with so many subjects, be over-burdened with three languages?'
Eleven people, including a child and four women, were killed on Sunday when a 20-foot-high compound wall adjacent to their huts collapsed in Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu even as Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa ordered a special investigation team probe into the Porur building crash that claimed 61 lives.
Senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudy has faced criticism, including from his own party, for his purported remarks on Shaivism and Vaishnavism. A video of the minister making the remarks has gone viral, leading to calls for his resignation. The BJP has slammed the minister and demanded his sacking, while DMK MP Kanimozhi also condemned the remarks. This incident follows an earlier controversy where Ponmudy linked north Indians with selling pani puri.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list commenced in nine states and three Union territories on Tuesday, amid objections from several parties with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the anti-SIR offensive in West Bengal with a rally in Kolkata and alleging 'silent, invisible rigging' through the exercise.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa was on Friday unanimously elected its legislature party leader, paving the way for her return as a chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fourth time.
Normalcy was returning to Tamil Nadu on Sunday, a day after sporadic violence erupted in several parts of the state in the wake of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
In its resolve to put an end to the "colonial mindset" of elite clubs and others in banning entry of people wearing traditional attire "dhoti", Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday introduced a bill in the state assembly, which seeks to make such practices a cognisable offence.
Thirty-eight Tamil Nadu fishermen were on Thursday arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary line, three days after fishermen representatives of India and Sri Lanka met to discuss the vexed fishing issue.
The Deepa Thoon controversy, if not allowed to die a natural death, could take the election focus away from the anti-incumbency impacting the DMK and into the secular space. Stalin would love to have it that way, all over again, after the three past elections, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Nine hundred and forty-seven people are said to have died in grief after J Jayalalithaa's demise on December 5. But how true is this claim?
Farmers and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu on Monday staged rail roko agitation at various places in the state demanding the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board immediately.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances