Chennai: Two years after she stormed into Fort St George, the seat of power in Tamil Nadu, with a massive victory, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has a mixed bag of results to show so far.
Forcing the central government to gazette the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal by filing a case in the Supreme Court, distributing relief to farmers in the drought-hit areas; urging retrieval of the Katchatheevu islet from Sri Lanka; and setting up of Amma Canteen (budget canteen) selling food at subsidised rates are said to be some of the achievements of Jayalalithaa government.
THE AIADMK government has also fulfilled most of its election promises with free fan and mixie-grinder given to six million families at an outlay of Rs 3,370 crore and free laptops distributed to around 1.66 million students involving an expenditure of Rs 2,766 crore. However, the power problem plaguing the state remains a big challenge, while the steep hike in prices of essential items is said to be one of the negative points against the AIADMK's two year rule.
"It has been a challenging period for Jayalalithaa and she has overcome the challenges meritoriously. In the case of Cauvery water issue with Karnataka or the Mullaperiyar Dam dispute with Kerala, Jayalalithaa has notched up success," D Pandian, state secretary of Communist Party of India, told reporters....
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08:20 PM, May 16, 2013
Chennai: Rejecting Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's charge that his party was behind the violence in various parts of the state, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S Ramadoss on Tuesday alleged that pro-Dalit Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi was behind the incidents. "The Chief Minister's charge blaming PMK is far from truth," he said in a statement. Ramadoss claimed that he had evidence to prove his charge that VCK was behind the violence....
11:35 AM, May 14, 2013
Puducherry: The opposition AIADMK has accused the Rangasamy-led government in Puducherry of adopting a discriminatory policy against the party out of political vendetta. The party's Puducherry unit secretary A Anbalagan, MLA, alleged that the exclusion of the AIADMK from the State Planning Board was a clear case of discrimination; the government was showing against party legislators. He wondered how those who were not members of the Board were invited to...
11:48 AM, May 07, 2013
Erode (TN): A petrol bomb on Sunday was hurled at the office of AIADMK MLA SS Ramanidharan by unidentified attackers, police said on Sunday. Nobody was injured, they said, adding, some furniture and air-conditioner in the building were damaged in the incident. Ramanidharanm, who represents Anthiyur constituency, was not in the office at the time of the incident. Police, quoting eyewitness, said some unidentified persons came in motorcycles to the...
05:00 PM, May 05, 2013
Chennai: Slamming the Jayalalithaa government for opposing the Sethusamudram project, DMK on Wednesday announced state-wide public meetings on May 15 to press the Centre for speedily completing the project. "Not realising that this project, once implemented, would help the State to grow economically and to further prosper, the AIADMK regime by opposing it has become an anti-people government", DMK said in a statement. It said the meetings were being organised...
04:59 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: In a bid to build consensus over immediate roll-back of wealth tax on agriculture land, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal met leaders of Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and AIADMK in Delhi on Monday seeking their support for the cause. Badal, accompanied by his deputy and SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and MPs Harsimrat Badal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, met JD-U President and NDA convener Sharad...
12:46 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Udhagamandalam: Describing the AIADMK rule as "anti-people", DMK leader MK Stalin on Sunday alleged that law and order situation in Tamil Nadu was deteriorating with increase in murder and other crimes, particularly in the last few months. Contesting the statistics given in the State Assembly, Stalin read out statistics from the State Crime Bureau and claimed that the murder, theft, rape and other crimes were on the rise in the...
01:59 AM, Apr 29, 2013
Delhi: The Parliament is all set to resume the second part of the Budget session on Monday after a four-week long recess. The Budget session, which began on February 22, will conclude on May 10. The stage seems set for a stormy session, with Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Sunday suggesting punishing MPs who indulge in hooliganism. His proposals for restoration of the dignity of Parliament were,...
06:40 PM, Apr 21, 2013
While most of the political parties are against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, only the AIADMK and the Shiromani Akali Dal support him. ...
03:30 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: An all party meet convened to reach a consensus on the Land Acquisition Bill remained inconclusive on Tuesday with no headway being made at all. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AIADMK and CPM gave their suggestions, other parties are expected to follow suit by April 15. After all the suggestions are made, there will be another round of meeting on April 18, by when there is likely...
03:39 PM, Apr 09, 2013
Chennai: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday night slammed BJP for not supporting the UPA government's efforts to pass a resolution in Parliament on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and rejected accusations hurled at Congress that it did not "support" the cause. Addressing a public meeting in Chennai, Chidambaram explained the initiatives the Congress took for passing a resolution in Parliament. The government convened an all-party meet to discuss...
12:27 AM, Apr 08, 2013
Chennai: Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the election of AIADMK candidate from the Kallakurichi (Reserved) constituency in Villupuram district in the 2011 Assembly elections. Justice K Venkataraman dismissed the petition filed by S Chinnadurai, an electorate of the constituency praying for setting aside the election of S Chinnadurai on the grounds that she did not belong to Scheduled Caste community. Justice Venkataraman in his order observed...
12:25 AM, Apr 06, 2013
Colombo: Sri Lanka has rejected moves to block trade with Tamil Nadu and has insisted that economic relations should not be disrupted despite political tensions, an official said on Thursday. "There were reports regarding a protest by a port employees' organization which said their members will refrain from handling or processing Indian supplies due to the situation in Tamil Nadu," Port and Highway Deputy Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardana said. "I am...
03:54 AM, Apr 05, 2013
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday presented documentary evidence to Congress members in the state Assembly to validate her minister's argument that Mahatma Gandhi wanted to dissolve the century-old political party after Independence. Responding to a demand by some Congress members, who had sought proof that Mahatma Gandhi had advocated dissolving of Congress after Independence, Jayalalithaa stunned them by reading out excerpts from 'The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi...
04:23 PM, Apr 02, 2013
Terming as "ill-founded" and "motivated", charges against the Congress and the UPA Government on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Union Minister V Narayanasamy on Saturday alleged students were being instigated by some persons to stage agitations on the issue. India was one of the 25 countries that voted in favour of US-sponsored resolution at UNHRC against Sri Lanka where New Delhi pushed for an independent and credible probe into human...
12:58 PM, Mar 30, 2013
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, "I think the Italian government has been very sensible. It took time to be persuaded. I have no problem to say that they have done a good job." ...
10:40 PM, Mar 29, 2013
Days after the DMK pulled out of the Centre and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa barred Sri Lankan cricketers from playing in Chennai, the Centre has taken a tough stand on politics over Sri Lankan Tamils. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has rejected the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution against Colombo. ...
03:08 PM, Mar 29, 2013
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not only to ask for shifting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from Colombo this November but also boycott the meet and the leaders' retreat. ...
06:11 PM, Mar 25, 2013
After being passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the anti-rape bill will now be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Bill was passed in the Lower House after much drama with major amendments being negated. Two amendments, seeking life term for trafficking of children and life imprisonment for acid attack, were defeated. ...
08:51 AM, Mar 21, 2013
RK Radhakrishnan, Head of programmes at The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the Lankan Tamils' issues and their resonance in India. ...
06:14 PM, Mar 20, 2013
