Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president and former DMK general secretary VP Duraisamy on Wednesday said next year’s assembly election is going to be a battle between DMK and BJP.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Duraisamy said being the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP has the right to lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu ahead of assembly elections.
READ | Tamil Nadu: BJP will head alliance in 2021 Assembly polls, fight is versus DMK, says Duraisamy
“Till last week, the 2021 elections were projected as DMK vs AIADMK, but after the departure of Ku Ka Selvam (DMK MLA from Thousand Lights constituency), it has become BJP vs DMK. This is a sign of our growth, we are growing fast in Tamil Nadu. Like-minded parties would be part of the alliance, we will lead them because we are a national party,” he said.
The reaction from Duraisamy comes days after Tamil Nadu BJP leader L Murugan said the AIADMK-BJP alliance will continue in the 2021 elections.
Four students from Tamil Nadu pursuing medical education in Russia drowned in a river in that country and directions have been issued to bring back their remains back home at the earliest, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Monday.
READ | TN CM directs officials to bring back bodies of students from Russia
He said he has directed senior government officials to immediately get in touch with the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian embassy in Russia, and arrange for bringing back the bodies of the four who drowned in the Volga river.
The DMK on Thursday expelled its MLA Ku Ka Selvam from the primary membership of the party after he virtually embraced the BJP. The legislator's reply to the show cause notice sent by the party, when he was suspended on August 5 for violating party discipline and bringing disrepute, was 'unacceptable,' the party said.
"The reply he gave was unacceptable and hence he is dismissed from the primary membership of the party and all his posts," DMK President M K Stalin said in a release adding the removal was a disciplinary action.
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
Recently, Selvam had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had met party chief J P Nadda in Delhi. Virtually embracing the BJP, the MLA who was formerly the DMK headquarters office secretary and executive committee member had asked people to join the saffron party. The MLA had also visited the BJP headquarters 'Kamalalayam' and alleged "family politics" in the DMK. He had said he was not considered for the west district
secretary position in the city despite working for the DMK for over two decades and demanded "intra party elections".
Selvam was with the Janaki faction of the AIADMK in the late 1980's following the death of AIADMK founder and then Chief Minister M G Ramachandran in 1987.
Chennai has recorded 2370 COVID-19 deaths till date. Here are the deaths in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
Around 40 Greater Chennai Police personnel who had recently recovered from COVID-19 donated their plasma to the plasma bank at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai today.
Recoveries in Chennai have crossed 11,000 in three of the city's 15 zones. Kodambakkam (Zone 10) leads the tally with 11,432 recoveries followed by Anna Nagar (Zone 8) with 11,336 recoveries and Royapuram (Zone 5) with 11,018 recoveries.
Here are the recoveries in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday instructed people to celebrate the forthcoming Vinayagar Chathurthi festival at their houses and denied permission to display Vinayagar Idols in public to prevent the gathering of people in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, the government said no activities such as erecting the Idols, setting up the pandals, carrying out the Ganesh procession will be permitted on August 22. People who intend to buy necessary items for pooja have been instructed to follow social distancing norms and other guidelines issued by the government.
Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president and former DMK general secretary VP Duraisamy on Wednesday said next year’s assembly election is going to be a battle between DMK and BJP.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Duraisamy said being the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP has the right to lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu ahead of assembly elections.
“Till last week, the 2021 elections were projected as DMK vs AIADMK, but after the departure of Ku Ka Selvam (DMK MLA from Thousand Lights constituency), it has become BJP vs DMK. This is a sign of our growth, we are growing fast in Tamil Nadu. Like-minded parties would be part of the alliance, we will lead them because we are a national party,” he said.
Read more
Chennai has a total of 10,953 active cases as of Thursday. Here are the active cases in the top 10 zones in the city:
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai today from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the areas which will be affected:
A total of 74 flights will fly between Chennai and major cities today, with 37 arrivals and 37 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
In a bid to enforce isolation and social distancing among citizens to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Chennai, the Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal on Wednesday issued a circular banning public gatherings, demonstrations, human chains, meetings etc within the jurisdiction of the Greater Chennai Police for 15 days from August 12 to August 27.
The order exempts gatherings or processions which have been permitted by the CoP, religious processions and gatherings at places of worship, processions or gatherings for sports, weddings, funerals and religious ceremonies, meetings held under a statutory authority or under the State or Union Government and meetings or gatherings exempted by the State or through a Special Order.
Tamil Nadu reported 5,871 Covid-19 cases Wednesday, taking its total number of cases in the state to 3,14,520. Chennai reported 993 cases, taking the city’s tally to 1,12,059.
Besides Chennai, Chengalpattu reported 421 and Thiruvallur registered 407 cases, Kancheepuram recorded 371 cases while Cuddalore reported 339 cases. Other districts such as Coimbatore (294), Virudhunagar (292), Theni (282), Ranipet (254) and Salem (217) recorded more than 200 cases. Thiruvarur (7), Krishnagiri (7) were the only districts to report new cases in single digits.
Read more
Tamil Nadu reported 5,871 Covid-19 cases Wednesday, taking its total number of cases in the state to 3,14,520. The total number of cases on Wednesday, included 27 returnees from other countries and states. Chennai reported 993 cases, taking the city’s tally to 1,12,059.
As of yesterday, there are 52,999 active cases in the state.
With 119 deaths, the death toll climbed up to 5,278. Among the deceased, 107 had comorbidities. Chennai had the highest death toll among the districts with 20 deaths, while Thiruvallur reported nine deaths.
Meanwhile, as many as 5,633 persons were discharged yesterday, taking the number of recoveries to 2,56,313. A total of 34,32,025 RT-PCR samples have been tested till date in Tamil Nadu.
Read more
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19, unlock phase 1 in Tamil Nadu and more in the state throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.
Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president and former DMK general secretary VP Duraisamy said the 2021 assembly elections is going to be a battle between DMK and BJP. Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Duraisamy said being the ruling party at the centre, BJP has the right to lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu ahead of assembly elections.
“Till last week, the 2021 elections were projected as DMK vs AIADMK, but after the departure of Ku Ka Selvam (Thousand Lights MLA from DMK), it has become BJP vs DMK. This is a sign of our growth, we are growing fast in Tamil Nadu. Like-minded parties would be part of the alliance, we will lead them because we are a national party,” Duraisamy said.
Read more
As many nine IPS officers have been transferred in Tamil Nadu. Arun Balagopan, the former Thoothukudi SP who was brought to compulsory wait following the custodial death case in Sathankulam, has now been posted as SP, Chennai Crimes Division. SP Om Prakash Meena has been posted as AIGP whereas AIGP Sibi Chakravarthy is transferred to Cyber cell, CB-CID. Jayalakshmi, SP, Cyber-cell, CB-CID is posted at Tamil Nadu police academy in Vandalur in place of Vandalur.K.P.S Jeyachandran who is posted to Tamil Nadu Commando Force.
Chennai has 11,130 active cases, after the city recorded 986 fresh cases on Tuesday.
Here are the active cases in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam took to Twitter to wish Kamala Harris on her nomination as Joe Biden's running mate on Tuesday.
"It is a moment of pride for Indians and TamilNadu especially, as Kamala Harris, the first Indian senator, whose mother hails from TamilNadu has been nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate by the US Democratic party. My hearty wishes to her." (sic), he tweeted.
In choosing Harris, Biden is embracing a former rival from the Democratic primary who is familiar with the unique rigor of a national campaign. Harris, a 55-year-old first-term senator, is also one of the party’s most prominent figures and quickly became a top contender for the No. 2 spot after her own White House campaign ended.
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai today till 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the areas which will be affected:
A total of 29 legislators have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu till date.
Here is the full list:
AIADMK - 11 legislators
DMK - 14 legislators
AICC - Two legislators
CPI - One legislator
Mukkulathor Pulipadai - One legislator
A total of 70 flights will fly between Chennai and major cities today, with 35 arrivals and depatures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
Tamil Nadu recorded 5834 positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state tally to 3,08,649. Among these, Chennai reported 986 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,11,054. Chennai recorded less than 1000 cases for the fifth consecutive day.
Besides Chennai, 388 cases were reported in Chengalpattu, 330 in Kancheepuram, 362 in Thiruvallur, 86 in Ariyalur, 324 in Coimbatore, 281 in Cuddalore, eight in Dharmapuri, 150 in Dindigul, 17 in Erode, 74 in Kallakurichi, 192 in Kanyakumari, 31 in Karur, 43 in Krishnagiri, 90 in Madurai, 53 in Nagapattinam, 10 in Namakkal, five in Nilgiris, 35 in Perambalur, 64 in Pudukottai, 36 in Ramanathapuram, 333 in Ranipet, 206 in Salem, 55 in Sivagangai, 136 in Tenkasi, 125 in Thanjavur, 297 in Theni, 37 in Thirupathur, 161 in Thiruvannamalai, 88 in Thiruvarur, 110 in Thoothukudi, 136 in Tirunelveli, 37 in Tiruppur, 86 in Trichy, 181 in Vellore, 91 in Villupuram and 180 in Virudhunagar districts.
Read more
Tamil Nadu recorded 5834 positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state tally to 3,08,649. Among these, Chennai reported 986 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,11,054. Chennai recorded less than 1000 cases for the fifth consecutive day.
Tamil Nadu recorded 118 deaths on Tuesday, putting the state toll at 5159. 107 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 6005 patients following treatment yesterday, putting the total number of recoveries at 2,50,680.
As of Tuesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 52,810. Till date, 1,86,156 males, 1,22,464 females and 29 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 33,60,450 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 67,492 samples having been sent today.
Read more
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19, unlock phase 1 in Tamil Nadu and more in the state throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.