Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin (Twitter/@mkstalin)Tamil Nadu, Chennai News Highlights: Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Friday asked his partymen who have occupied posts allotted to alliance partners in the indirect polls to step down immediately.
“Those who win by contesting in the seats allotted to the Comrades should resign immediately! Failure to do so will result in dismissal of the basic member of the organization,” Stalin tweeted.
DMK’s Priya Rajan, a 28-year-old MCom graduate, was elected unopposed as the first Dalit and third woman Mayor of the Greater Chennai Corporation. Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi administered the oath of office to Rajan and handed her the ceremonial dress, while DMK cabinet minister P K Sekar Babu and Ma Subramanian handed over the ceremonial mace. Indirect elections to the posts of mayor, deputy mayor, chairperson and vice-chairperson took place in local bodies across the state on Friday. The swearing-in ceremony commenced around 9.30 am for candidates who were elected unopposed.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai on Friday predicted thunderstorm with light to moderate rain at isolated places over coastal Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Karaikal area. “Yesterday’s Depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 15 kmph during last 06 hours and lay centered at 0830 hrs IST of today, the 4th March 2022, over the same region near latitude 8.9°N and longitude 82.9°E, about 180 km east of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 390km southeast of Nagappattinam (Tamil Nadu), 470 km southeast of Puducherry (Tamil Nadu) and about 530 km south-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu),” a bulletin said.
The Tamil Nadu government Thursday formed a special team to expedite the evacuation of students and other people from the state, who are stranded in Ukraine and those who have sought refuge in other neighbouring countries. Chief Minister M K Stalin chaired a meeting with senior officials on Thursday over the steps taken since February 24 to bring back the students and others stranded amid the escalating violence in Ukraine.
Tamil Nadu on Friday recorded 261 fresh Covid-19 cases taking the overall tally to 34,50,594. The total cases included a returnee from Bihar. A 58-year-old male from Thanjavur, who tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to a Government healthcare centre on February 25 with complaints of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing, passed away on Friday. The toll has now reached 38,011. A total of 705 patients got discharged in the past 24 hours, leaving 3,505 active infections. Read more
V K Sasikala, confidante of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Friday embarked on a two-day tour of southern Tamil Nadu to meet her supporters.
Amid demands from AIADMK workers in Theni to consider taking Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran into the party, she told reporters here that the entire party is a family and that she is going to meet children of the outfit.
The demand of a section of workers to take the duo back into the party has been opposed by others.
On her arrival at Tuticorin, she was accorded a rousing welcome at the airport by her supporters and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam's brother O Raja called on her at the temple town of Tiruchendur. However, what was discussed during the meeting is not clear. (PTI)
Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin asked his partymen who have occupied posts allotted to alliance partners in the indirect polls to step down immediately.
"Those who win by contesting in the seats allotted to the Comrades should resign immediately! Failure to do so will result in dismissal of the basic member of the organization," Stalin tweeted on Friday.
All the 20 mayoral candidates of the ruling DMK and its ally Congress' nominee, an autorickshaw driver, on Friday were elected in indirect polls to the top posts in civic bodies in Tamil Nadu and they took charge. (PTI)
CPI(M) on Friday urged DMK to safeguard the alliance dharma. Party leader K Balakrishnan said that they lost in some places because some DMK councillors went against the decision of their party high command and contested for top posts in the municipalities and panchayats that were allotted to CPI(M).
Regular physical hearing of the cases at the Madras High Court, both at the principal seat here and the Bench at Madurai, will commence from March 7.
The decision is taken in view of the connectivity issues, which cause delay in hearing the cases and to ensure proper hearing of the case, that too expeditiously, on the directions of the Chief Justice, a press release from Registrar-General P Dhanabal said on Friday.
Advocates, who are senior citizens or persons with disability, may avail the hybrid mode of hearing by furnishing information to the Registry in advance, the release added. (PTI)
German luxury car maker BMW has rolled out the 1,00,000th Made-in-India car manufactured at its facility at neighbouring Singaperumalkoil on Friday.
A BMW Individual 740Li M Sport Edition received the special badge marking the milestone, a company statement said here.
"It is a day of great joy and pride for us as the 1,00,000th Made in India car drives out of our assembly lines. This accomplishment is a result of the team's hard work, efficiency and consistency which ensures that every BMW or MINI Car locally produced here in Chennai is of the same international quality standards as any other BMW plant across the world," BMW Group Plant, Managing Director Thomas Dose said. (PTI)
A girl student of Class XI of a private school in Virudachalam in the Cuddalore district attempted to die by suicide on March 1 by jumping from the first floor of the school building following an alleged incident of sexual harassment by her school teacher. The accused was arrested Wednesday after the girl filed a complaint. Read more
(Source: Twitter/@ptrmadurai)
Its latest poll debacle in Tamil Nadu, in the urban local body elections, has reignited discussions in the AIADMK over the ousted leader V K Sasikala’s return to the party. Kicking off a move to “unite the party”, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam held a meeting at his residence in Theni district on 2 March, which decided to get the party rank and file affiliated to the Sasikala faction back into its fold.
About 200 AIADMK functionaries participated in this meeting that deliberated on the reasons for the party’s continuing defeats at the hustings. “One of the reasons for the electoral debacles was considered to be a division in the party. A majority of members demanded that this problem be rectified by bringing back Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) cadres,” said a party leader close to Panneerselvam. Read the full story here.
The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) said consumers will not be able to pay water and sewerage tax for the next three days from Friday (March 4) to Sunday (March 6) through cash counters at Metrowater’s head office, depot office and through online mode as the Board’s software will be under maintenance. The press release said that once the maintenance work is completed, consumers can start paying the tax at cash counters in head, area and depot offices and on online mode from March 7 (Monday).
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai on Friday predicted thunderstorm with light to moderate rain at isolated places over coastal Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Karaikal area.
The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) announced that several areas in north Chennai will not receive piped water supply on Friday and Saturday due to maintenance work at the Anna Poonga Water Distribution Station.
In a press release, CMWSSB said it had proposed to check the longevity of the 700 mm feeder main Anna Poonga Water Distribution Station due to which the piped water supply in certain parts of north Chennai will be cut. The board announced that areas of Old Washermanpet, Royapuram, Korukkupet and Kasimedu will be affected. Water supply will be stopped from 9 am on March 4 (Friday) to 8 am on March 5 (Saturday). Read more
AIADMK leader and former Minister D Jayakumar was on Thursday granted conditional bail by the Madras High Court in the first case registered against him on the charge of attacking and parading shirtless, a DMK worker at a polling booth in Chennai on February 19 during the urban local body elections.
Justice A D Jagadish Chandra, who granted the relief, said that the petitioner (Jayakumar) shall reside in Tiruchirappalli for two weeks and report to the Cantonment police on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Read more
The first bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday wondered as to why not the Constitution be re-written in such a manner to provide 7.5 per cent reservation to students from government schools alone in the matter of admission in medical courses.
When the batch of PILs and writ petitions challenging the legislation of the previous AIADMK government providing the reservation for students from government schools came up for further hearing today, the bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy orally observed that the Constitution may require re-writing to suit the provision of such a reservation based on study institution-wise. Read more
Tamil Nadu Milk Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation on Friday increased the retail prices of all Aavin products in Chennai. One Litre of Ghee will now Rs 535. Earlier, it was priced at Rs 515. The price of 500 ml of curd has now been increased by 3 rupees to Rs 30.
Here is the full list of the increase in the prices of Aavin products:
DMK’s Priya Rajan, a 28-year-old MCom graduate who won from ward 74 in Thiru.Vi.Ka. Nagar zone, on Friday, elected as the Mayor of the Chennai Corporation. She was sworn-in as the Mayor at the Ripon Building in Chennai in the presence of the 200 newly-elected councillors and Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gangandeep Singh Bedi.
The Madras High Court has directed the Regional Passport Authority (RPA) here to issue a passport with 10 years validity to Karti Chidambaram, the Congress MP from Sivaganga and son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram.
Justice M Govindaraj issued the directive while allowing a writ petition from Karti, recently. The petition sought to quash the orders dated April 8, 2021 and August 24, 2021 of the RPA turning down his plea and consequently direct him to re-issue a passport with additional pages, valid for 10 years. Read more
On Mullaiperiyar dam issue, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday requested Kerala to allow felling 15 trees, take materials to the reservoir site for purposes including maintenance work and to set up Seismograph and Accelerograph. TN Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan, writing to his Kerala counterpart Roshy Augustine, said the water resources and forest departments of Kerala were delaying “to permit to convey the materials and machinery to the dam site.”
This is for carrying out routine maintenance and repair works to be done as per the guidelines of Central Water Commission and in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court, Duraimurugan said. Read more
The indirect elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor will take place on March 4 (Friday). Days after winning the urban local body polls with a thumping majority, the DMK on Thursday released the list of Mayor and Deputy Mayor candidates, giving a sizeable number of the top posts to its alliance partners.
Tamil Nadu on Thursday logged 292 fresh Covid-19 infections taking the tally to 34,50,333. The total cases included one returnee each from Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Kerala. As many as 778 people got discharged in the past 24 hours leaving 3,950 active infections. With one death, the toll reached 38,010. Read more
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which emerged victorious in the recently concluded urban local body election, has nominated Priya Rajan, a 28-year-old MCom graduate who won from ward 74 in Thiru.Vi.Ka. Nagar zone, as their candidate for the mayor’s post in Chennai Corporation. Rajan is set to become the first Dalit woman to hold the position. The post is considered very significant in the history of Tamil Nadu politics. Chief Minister M K Stalin and Health Minister Ma Subramanian had held the position in the past. Read more
The latest defeat of the AIADMK in the Tamil Nadu urban local body elections has revived talks in the party to take back the expelled leader VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, who had broken away to form the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), into its fold.
During a meeting held at the residence of party coordinator O Panneerselvam in Theni Wednesday to discuss the reason behind the poor performance in the recently concluded urban local body polls, functionaries pressed the AIADMK leader to readmit Sasikala and Dhinakaran. Read more
Hello and welcome to our Chennai live blog! We bring to you the latest news on Covid-19, politics, features, entertainment, sports, weather, art and culture from across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. The indirect elections for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in Chennai will take place today. Stay tuned for all the updates. Also, follow our Twitter handle @ie_chennai for more.