The 80-year old Purohit was on self-isolation since July 29 after three people in the Raj Bhavan tested positive for the coronavirus.
Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer K Rajaraman on Friday took charge as the new telecom secretary. His joining comes following the superannuation of Anshu Prakash on September 30. "Shri K Rajaraman, IAS (TN:89) takes charge as Secretary, @DoT_India in presence of senior officials of the department," a PIB tweet said. He was serving as the additional secretary for investments at the Department of Economic Affairs before being promoted to the position of secretary, DoT.
And in the midst of it all, Jayalalithaa keeps the guessing game going, on her returning as chief minister and on calling for early assembly polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam veteran's criticism of Haasan comes in the backdrop of the actor invoking the legacy of the ruling party's founder and former chief minister, the late M G Ramachandran, and the MNM chief lashing out at government over corruption.
Rescuers early on Tuesday pulled out the decomposed and mangled body of Sujith Wilson from deep inside the unused borewell, after a futile 80-hour attempt to save the child who had fallen in while playing near his house in Nadukattupatti in Tiruchirappalli.
J Radhakrishnan, who was among top state officials who had a tab on the treatment of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016 at the Apollo Hospitals till her demise in December that year, has replaced her.
Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are centred on chief ministerial candidates of rival parties. When Sasikala cannot contest even a panchayat election for six years after her release, even if she were to have sympathetic backers even among apolitical voters, she does not have any 'transferrable vote-bank' even otherwise for a chief minister candidate of her choice, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The trust vote would have been closer had the DMK not been expelled,' O Panneerselvam tells A Ganesh Nadar at the launch of an e-learning portal in Jayalalithaa's name.
The strike had affected inpatient, outpatient services and elective surgeries across Tamil Nadu.
Once the Covid crisis subsides in the state, the NEET exam this year, whether conducted or cancelled, could become an electoral issue next year, along with the BC-MBC reservations issue, especially the 'creamy layer' aspect, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has charge-sheeted nine Tamil Nadu policemen for murder, conspiracy and other offences in the custodial death case of the father-son duo who were arrested on a 'fake' charge of violating the lockdown and tortured in Sathankulam police station in June this year, officials said on Saturday.
Subsequently, Nivar weakened into a cyclonic storm and further into a deep depression, centered about 50 km west-southwest of Tirupati at 1430 hrs, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. According to IMD, it is to weaken into a depression during the next six hours.
P Jayaraj and his son Fennix, arrested for 'violating' lockdown norms over business hours of their cellphone shop, died at a hospital in Kovilpatti on June 23.
V K Sasikala, late J Jayalalithaa's confidante would return to Tamil Nadu on February 7 from Bengaluru and a grand welcome from party cadres awaited her right from the state's border, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dinakaran said in Madurai on Wednesday.
Here is the glimpse of the political turn of events in the state
If the DMK under Stalin is unable to do well in the Lok Sabha elections, his personal and political standing in the party will be threatened. But if the party does well, Stalin is the next kingmaker to watch out for. T E Narasimhan and Aditi Phadnis report.
Special police teams have been formed to trace the assailants who hacked to death Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit general secretary V Ramesh, even as a state-wide bandh has been called by the party on July 22 to protest the murder.
The CBI has dispatched a special team to conduct the probe in which several Tamil Nadu Police personnel are under the scanner and some have already been arrested by the state police, they said.
Subramanian Swamy stole the BJP thunder in Tamil Nadu by meeting DMDK's Vijaykanth in Chennai, and his efforts seem to have paid off, at least in the interim, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Financial assistance of Rs 25,000 to one lakh persons going on pilgrimage to major Hindu temples, increase in maternity leave period and assistance, cut in fuel prices and steps to ban National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) were the various promises made by the Dravidian party.
The dispute arose after Nissan alleged that Tamil Nadu hadn't paid certain incentives under a 2008 agreement to set up a car plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices R Subhash Reddy and A S took note of the submission of the main opposition party of the state that speaker has not been taking any decision on the MLAs for last three years and issued notices to him, assembly secretary and 11 lawmakers including O Panneerselvam.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has promulgated an ordinance to take temporary possession of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's residence to convert it into a memorial, the state government said on Friday.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister, who is in Pudukottai on an official visit to review anti-COVID-19 measures and development projects in the district told reporters that vaccination shall cover all sections of the society.
"A stand was taken to seek his (Dhanapal's) removal based on the circumstances at that point of time. The party, however, now feels that the motion was not warranted," Stalin said on the opening day of the assembly session in Chennai.
The Tamil Nadu government has said it was largely dependent on ground water to meet requirements till the onset of north east monsoon in October.
Vijayakanth said the decision to snap ties with the AIADMK was taken following a unanimous view reached at a consultative meeting with party's district secretaries in Chennai.
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.
Harnessing the power of social media, Palaniswami seems to have struck a personal chord with citizens-cum-netizens, not only interacting with them but ensuring redressal of their grievances.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to a hospital in Chennai late Thursday night due to fever, is recovering and continues to be under observation.
Thursday's protests across Tamil Nadu was less pro-Cauvery and more anti-Modi in character and content -- including in it various development projects in the state that are perceived as 'environmentally unfriendly' and hence 'anti-Tamil', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala are voting in single-phase for 234 and 140 assembly constituencies respectively.
Will the AIADMK acknowledge the role of CAA and the anti-CAA protests, both inside the state and outside, as among the causes for the current electoral reversal, as many in the party now want? It is unlikely to be so, but then the pressure will increase on the leadership to reassess the BJP alliance at one level and the 'blind support' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial policies on the other, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said four police personnel, including two sub-inspectors, have been suspended in connection with the incident while an inspector has been put on wait.
The actor also said matters relating to alliance and who will be the chief minister in such a case will be decided during the polls.
A woman Dalit panchayat president in the district was allegedly humiliated by the vice president, who did not allow her to sit on a chair at meetings or hoist the national flag, drawing widespread condemnation from political parties.
The murder charges capped dramatic developments both in the court and outside where a woman head constable witness to the happenings told a Magisterial probe that the two traders were thrashed an entire night by the other police personnel at Sathankulam station where they were detained over alleged lockdown violations late last month.
Despite drawing a blank in Tamil Nadu, its leaders in the state claimed they should strike roots without using a crutch at this "most opportune" time, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Now that an elected chief minister is at the helm, it is high time the Centre initiate discussions to appoint a full-time governor at the earliest, given that the state is set to face some challenging times, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The DMK has been alleging that the AIADMK government was being controlled by the BJP government at the Centre.
