Stalin also sought an allocation of 500 tons of medical oxygen to which Modi replied that the request will be processed…reports Asian Lite News.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing the medical oxygen allocation to 500 tons.
Stalin and Modi had a telecon on Saturday, said a state government statement.
According to the statement, Stalin had sought the central government’s cooperation in the state government’s action to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Stalin also sought an allocation of 500 tons of medical oxygen to which Modi replied that the request will be processed.
The plane carrying the medical aid has reached New Delhi with oxygen concentrators & ventilators from Switzerland(Twitter)
The Prime Minister had told Stalin that more diagnostic tests, to check the infections, should be carried out, and not so severely infected persons should be advised for home quarantine. Stalin said: “The availability of oxygen in Tamil Nadu is very very critical and there was an unfortunate incident of 13 deaths at Chengalpattu 2 days ago. We request your kind intervention to get revised orders issued and provide full support to Tamil Nadu in this hour of crisis.”
Drawing the attention of Modi to the severe crisis with regard to the availability of medical oxygen in the state, he said the daily consumption of oxygen is expected to touch 840 MT in the next two weeks from the current consumption of 440 MT.
Stalin said at the emergency meeting held on Thursday by the officials of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, it was decided to allocate, 40 MT from INOX, Kanjikode, Kerala for the next four days, 60 MT from Praxair, Sriperumbudur (Linde Saint Gobain) of which 20 MT to be provided after two days, and 120 MT from SAIL and Linde, Rourkela to meet medium-term needs.
“The revised allotment orders are still awaited,” he said.
Stalin assured Modi of his full support and cooperation in the latter’s efforts to tackle this unprecedented pandemic and save the nation.
After a gap of 10 years, the DMK with Stalin at the helm comes back to power for a sixth time in its history by winning the 2021 Assembly elections securing a comfortable majority on its own, reports Asian Lite News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_RVAUkrfQ
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu by Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhawan on Friday.
After a gap of 10 years, the DMK with Stalin at the helm comes back to power for a sixth time in its history by winning the 2021 Assembly elections securing a comfortable majority on its own.
The 68-year-old Stalin wearing white shirt and dhoti came to Raj Bhavan at about 9 a.m. Purohit administered Stalin the Oath of Office and Secrecy.
The Governor also administered the oath to 33 other lawmakers as the Ministers.
MK Stalin takes oath as Tamil Nadu CM (photo: Pallav Paliwal)
On Thursday, Purohit released the list of lawmakers who will be appointed as ministers and their portfolios.
Stalin’s Cabinet has two women Ministers. Stalin’s wife Durga, son Udhayanidhi and other family members, former Deputy Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator O.Panneerselvam, leaders of Congress and other parties attended the swearing in ceremony.
AIADMK top leader O Panneerselvam, leaders from alliance parties including Congress’s P Chidambaram, MDMK chief Vaiko and top state officials took part in the ceremony.
DMK had fought the elections with its allies and got an absolute majority on its own by bagging 133 seats in the 234-member assembly.
Stalin will hold several portfolios including Home, General Administration, Special Initiatives, Special Programme Implementation and Welfare of Differently -Abled Persons.
MK Stalin takes oath as Tamil Nadu CM (,Kamal Haasann was present at ceremony (photo: Pallav Paliwal)
Udhayanidhi doesn’t make it to Stalin cabinet
Stalin did not include his son Udhayanidhi Stalin in the cabinet. Udhayanidhi, a film star-turned-politician had won with a margin of 60,000 votes from Chepauk seat and was tipped to be in the cabinet — speculations of him being the Deputy Chief Minister have been doing rounds.
There are 15 new faces in the cabinet — the first timers. It is learnt that the Chief Minister will not be moving for a major bureaucratic reshuffle immediately.
MK Stalin takes oath as Tamil Nadu CM (photo: Pallav Paliwal)
Stalin gets emotional before Karunanidhi’s photo
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin turned emotional on Friday while paying his respects before his late father and former Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi’s portrait at the latter’s residence in Gopalapuram on Friday.
Stalin drove to Karunanidhi’s residence at Gopalapuram from Raj Bhavan after taking oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister.
Paying his floral tributes to Karunanidhi’s photograph, Stalin with a small hand gesture conveyed that his father was not there to see him become the Chief Minister of the state.
Stalin’s sister Selvi quickly consoled him.
MK Stalin (photo: Pallav Paliwal)
Earlier on entering Karunanidhi’s residence where his mother resides now, some party cadres burst crackers as a mark of celebration to which Stalin immediately showed his displeasure.
Stalin came to Karunanidhi’s residence to seek his mother’s blessings.
At Raj Bhavan, Stalin’s wife Durga turned emotional on hearing her husband saying `”I Muthuvel Karunanidhi”, while being administered Oath of Office and Oath of Secrecy.
War room to flight Covid
Earlier, MK Stalin said Tamil Nadu is facing a medical emergency. The announcement from the DMK president comes in the backdrop of several rounds of meetings with health experts and other officials over the past three days.
In a statement on Wednesday, Stalin said he has instructed the chief secretary to set up a ‘war room’ which will act as a central unit to monitor the medical oxygen stocks and vaccine, the requirement of beds, etc. He said the contribution of frontline workers during the pandemic is a great service to the people.
” The pandemic scenario has now changed into a ‘medical emergency’ and I appeal to private hospitals to fully commit themselves to save people who fear for their lives,” the DMK chief said in a statement. As part of Covid-19 containment measures, he asked the hospitals, which are now allotting 50 per cent of the total beds to Covid-19 patients, to provide additional beds. He urged them to also provide consession in billing to the maximum possible extent for services availed by coronavirus infected people. “This is a difficult period, but it is not something we cannot overcome,” he added.
With the successive poll victories in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Stalin has established himself as an undisputed leader…reports Asian Lite News
For the 68-year-old M.K. Stalin, affectionately called “Thalapathi” (Commander) by members of his DMK, the wait to lead Tamil Nadu as its head will soon get over.
The DMK, led by Stalin, a former Deputy Chief Minister, is all set to come to power after a 10-year hiatus, and has even gained a majority on its own.
With the successive poll victories – the first one was the 2019 Lok Sabha polls – and now the Assembly polls, Stalin has established himself as an undisputed leader within and outside the party.
Stalin has to wait for some more days for his coronation as Chief Minister.
His earlier coronation as the DMK’s second President in 2018 was a smooth affair.
DMK’s then General Secretary K. Anbazhagan then said 1,307 party officials had proposed and seconded Stalin’s candidature.
Stalin was given the role of Working President in January 2017 after his father and party patriarch M. Karunanidhi was largely confined to his home due to age-related ailments.
Born on March 1, 1953 to Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal, Stalin was named after the Russian leader Joseph Stalin who died on March 5, 1953 – four days after Stalin’s birth.
Legend has it that Karunanidhi wanted to name him ‘Ayyadurai’ – after DK founder ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy and DMK founder C.N. Annadurai.
Like his multi-faceted father who entered public life at the age of 14, Stalin too started his political journey by becoming an ordinary member of the DMK at the age of 14 and campaigning for the party in the 1967 polls.
A year earlier he had formed a youth forum: Gopalapuram Youth DMK.
Stalin came to public notice at large when he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for opposing the imposition of Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He became the party’s Youth Wing Secretary in 1984 and continued to hold that post for a long time.
It was in 1984 that Stalin made his electoral debut from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai but lost. He finally entered the Assembly in 1989.
The other electoral loss for him was in 1991 at the same seat.
Till date, Stalin has won six Assembly polls – four times from Thousand Lights and twice from Kolathur constituency. His seventh victory comes in 2021.
Stalin was the Local Administration Minister in the Karunanidhi government (2006-11) and became Deputy Chief Minister in 2009 and stayed in the post till 2011.
As the aged Karunanidhi was not able to move much, the mantle of being lead campaigner fell on him in 2016 Assembly polls.
The DMK won 89 seats and narrowly missed the victory to the AIADMK then led by J. Jayalalithaa.
Stalin became the Leader of the Opposition. But the party suffered a shock defeat losing the security deposit in the by-election from R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai, a seat held by Jayalalithaa. The by-election was won by T.T.V. Dhinakaran, a rebel AIADMK leader who later floated the AMMK.
Before becoming a state minister, Stalin was the Chennai Mayor in 1996-2001 and 2001-02. He was also the party Treasurer.
During his Mayorship, the Chennai Corporation built several flyovers to ease the traffic flow. The AIADMK government headed by Jayalalithaa had, however, arrested Stalin for alleged corruption in building the flyovers. But it did not affect his career. Even Karunanidhi had once openly declared that if he had a chance then he would announce Stalin as his successor.
But Stalin’s elder brother and former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri – then incharge of the party affairs in the southern districts – opposed it and said he cannot think of anybody else as his leader other than Karunanidhi.
Later, Alagiri was dismissed from the party for anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, Stalin started taking strong hold of the party reins following the indisposition of Karunanidhi.
The Alagiri-Stalin rivalry plagued the DMK for a long time but Karunanidhi kept a fragile peace till his passing away.
Stalin is married to Durga, a believer, and the couple have two children – Udayanidhi and Senthamarai.
Udhayanidhi, an actor turned politician, also made successful electoral debut this time from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituency.
Stalin also had acted in two movies and in two television serials.
Succeeding Karunanidhi, an illustrious leader, Stalin did not try to show himself as a leader different from his father, and in all his election campaign speeches, always said he is the son of Karunanidhi.
Roping in political strategist Prashant Kishor to chart the party’s victory route, Stalin continued with the campaign of painting the Narendra Modi-led Central government as “anti-Tamil” and “anti-states”.
The party also successfully built a public perception that it would win the polls and the AIADMK government was subservient to the Central government.
Stalin also carried out hard bargaining for seats with allies and made many of them contest under the party’s Rising Sun electoral symbol.
On the other factors that worked for the DMK in the assembly elections, a political analyst told IANS, were the anti-incumbency against the AIADMK government, the anti-BJP sentiment, alliance arithmetic, the steady cultivation of the perception that it will win the polls over a long period of time, and caste neutrality.
He did not agree that the assembly poll victory was an extension of the DMK-led alliance’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“That was a total rout for the AIADMK-led alliance. During the Lok Sabha elections, it was Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the Prime Ministership that was on the centre stage,” the analyst said.
In 2019 there was an anti-Modi wave in Tamil Nadu. But in the 2021 Assembly elections, Stalin was at the centre stage but there was no wave in his favour to rout the AIADMK, the analyst said.
Be that as it may, with the 2021 Assembly election victory and heading the state government, Stalin has very many challenges facing him.
First and the foremost will be arresting the spread of coronavirus.
As an opposition leader, he had fired several salvos against Chief Minister K. Palaniswami. And now Stalin has to take control.
As he used to say, the state finances were in bad shape. And now it is his responsibility to set it right while fulfilling many of the populist poll promises that were made this time.
After years of maintaining an anti-BJP stance, Stalin has to navigate carefully the centre-state relations as a Chief Minister.
What is now certain is that Stalin may come out of his father’s shadows. And the long wait to become the Chief Minister will soon get over.
The polls predicted a sweep for the DMK in Tamil Nadu, signalling the emergence of MK Stalin and an unprecedented return to power for Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala, reports Asian Lite News.
Exit polls for the latest round of assembly elections on Thursday predicted outcomes along expected lines in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, but seemed to suggest that West Bengal may be too close to call.
The polls predicted a sweep for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, signalling the emergence of MK Stalin, 62, as one of the most powerful regional leaders in the country; an unprecedented return to power for the Left Democratic Front (LDF), headed by Pinarayi Vijayan, in Kerala; and a successful defence by the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam. But West Bengal, arguably the most intensely and bitterly fought state election in recent times, is also emerging the tightest, the polls indicated.
Some polls gave the BJP, which pulled out all stops in its campaign, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah leading from the front, the edge. Others pointed to an advantage for the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC). The truth will emerge on May 2, when votes are counted.
Opinion polls have been horribly wrong in the past, although, sometimes, they have also been prescient.
The BJP’s general secretary in charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, said the party would form the government in the state. He attributed the indecisive opinion polls to the research firms’ lack of familiarity with the state, people’s fear of “voicing opinions freely” in a state with a culture of political violence, and the presence of a large number of “silent voters”.
The TMC’s Samir Chakraborty chose only to look at polls that gave an edge to his party. “TMC is getting a majority despite Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and top BJP leaders making Bengal their base camp,” he said.
If the BJP manages to pull off a win, it will a remarkable achievement for a party that won only three of the 294 assembly seats in 2016, although it won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019. The party has long considered Bengal the last frontier, and a win in the state will complete its dominance of the east.
If the TMC manages to hold on — whichever party wins, the margin, if the opinion polls are any indication, will be slim — it will a remarkable achievement for chief minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party was weakened by desertions, faced significant anti-incumbency, and appeared to be behind the BJP for much of the campaign.
It will also elevate her standing in any anti-BJP grouping that coalesces at the national level.
Any such grouping will also have to make space for Stalin, fighting his first assembly election as leader of the party, although he did lead it to a sweep in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 (the DMK-led alliance won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state). It also means the Dravidian movement, bereft of a leader after the deaths of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK’s) J Jayalalithaa and the DMK’s Muthuvel Karunanidhi, gets a new icon.
The polls also predicted the return to power of the BJP and the LDF in Assam and Kerala, respectively. Both were anticipated.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) was criticised for the eight-phase elections in West Bengal, which meant campaigning continued as cases continued to rise, with all parties flouting Covid-19 safety protocol. Elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Kerala, were held in one phase on April 6, and that in Assam, in three phases on March 27, April 1, and April 6.
Now it’s on to Sunday when all eyes will be on West Bengal.
