Anantha Narayan

Annamalai is likely to be among the list of contestants. And who knows, there might be some more interesting names that'll excite the cadre. Trust the national leadership. They’ll do what’s best for the party. Things will be clearer in the next two days.

@Sheks65 Is it possible that the leader may be getting Karur-size panic attacks when he sees crowds swell up? Otherwise it's difficult to think of why he pulls the plug on the campaign when things are going fine.

For all fans of tvk..this is how vijay campaigns..once in 3 days..and people think TVK will do well..politics is 24* 7 and in election season it is 48*7..if that's possible..You cant be a part time politician and hope to win..

You can disagree with the party leadership. You can criticise policies. You can have your own take on how the party should be run. That’s democracy. Who you vote for is also your choice. But claiming to be a BJP supporter and running down your own party as “DJP” can only mean one thing: you were never a supporter in the first place. The BJP has seen many leaders. Everyone has had their fair share of off days. The good ones stay quiet during tough times and bounce back in good times. All the state BJP leaders have been toiling hard for the elections, no matter what. Here’s hoping their fans do the same.

The tepid reception for MK Stalin during his roadshows. The many small resignations and minor rebellions within the DMK. The lack of warmth shown by Rahul Gandhi towards the alliance. The turbulence in the VCK. The discomfort among the communists. What does it all show? The answer is blowing in the wind.

The BJP’s national leadership cannot be pressured into taking decisions. They take their time. If you go by their past decisions, the press has often got its speculations wrong. Those who presume seat allotments for certain leaders may have to be ready to eat humble pie. The Big 2 have their finger on the pulse of the electorate. They do listen to worker feedback. But they will make moves that suit their game plan. Until they identify winnable candidates for all 27 seats, they are unlikely to stop aligning and realigning the chess pieces.

Good, solid crowds for Vijay. This is what he's capable of delivering in city after city. This is what the DMK was afraid of. Vijay is not a terrific speaker. He's good enough to get his fans excited. Today's event would have energized the TVK worker. Finally, their leader has emerged. They think he's unstoppable.

South Indian father, American daughter💖🤣🤣

@yetuyegambaram Perambur, Trichy East, Gobichettipalayam, Villivakkam, Tiruchengode, Lalgudi.

@ThisIsAnantha What are those 6 seats??

As Vijay hits the road, it will become amply clear that TVK is a force to reckon with. It’s no Maiam; the vote base is much larger. It’s not DMDK either; the geographic spread is across the board. What really stands out about the party is its youthful exuberance and new energy. Only Annamalai was able to create that kind of energy at a middle-class level. Vijay has done it at scale. What remains to be seen is whether Vijay’s fans can convert that enthusiasm into votes for candidates other than Vijay across 232 constituencies. As of now, the party looks capable of winning up to six seats. Let’s see if they can surprise us.

Oxford University researchers have discovered the densest element yet known to science... The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass. When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.

Anthropic's CEO just admitted they could go broke despite doing $6 billion in a single month. Here's the insane math: They did $6B in February alone. That's more than Snowflake or Databricks make in an entire year. They've 10x'd revenue every year for 4 years straight: $0 → $100M → $1B → $10B → now heading to $100B. But here's the problem: Dario has to buy servers upfront like buying inventory. If he bets on 10x growth but only hits 5x, they go bankrupt. The fastest-growing company in history is one bad forecast away from zero. @thesamparr @ShaanVP

The way the DMK went about collecting ideas from the public for their manifesto, we were genuinely looking forward to what would emerge. We must say, the promises they’ve made didn’t really require such extensive crowdsourcing. Clearly, the AIADMK manifesto caught them off guard. The refrigerator promise seems to have weighed heavily, so they’ve tried to neutralize it by offering housewives an ₹8,000 coupon that can be redeemed against any appliance, including a fridge. Beyond this, much of their welfare agenda is an extension of what they have already been offering. Like the other manifestos, there are some meaty ideas buried within. Here are a few that caught our eye: a hut-free Tamil Nadu by 2030; four global cities around Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy and Salem; electric buses across all leading cities; a target of attracting ₹18 lakh crore in foreign investment; 50 Semmozhi Poongas; and a major push to create 50 lakh jobs. The problem for the DMK is this: they made many promises in 2021, and several remain unfulfilled. That credibility gap makes some of these new promises harder to believe.

Pa Ranjith is a prominent filmmaker and a leading Dalit voice. He has openly endorsed the candidature of Porkodi Armstrong, wife of the slain BSP leader K. Armstrong. Porkodi is contesting from Thiru Vi Ka Nagar in North Chennai. Last time, the DMK won the seat by nearly 50,000 votes. Ranjith’s move has riled up the Dravidian ecosystem. They are questioning how he can support Porkodi when she is aligned with the AIADMK-BJP alliance. But the fact remains that Pa Ranjith has not even mentioned the BJP in his tweet while endorsing her. In his mind, he sees her as a voice standing up for Dalit rights. She happens to be in alliance with the AIADMK. The ecosystem is aghast that he has failed to acknowledge the BJP link. Having tracked X closely, one can say that the Dalit movement in Tamil Nadu is now vertically divided between the VCK and others. Many are willing to look beyond the DMK for the first time. That is a welcome step, as there are several other parties that could champion their rights.

Got to laud TVK and Vijay for keeping his word of fielding 234 candidates for the Tamil Nadu Assembly. He could have taken the easy way out and aligned with the AIADMK or NDA. He chose to stand alone without any alliances, just like NTK. Vijay’s fans are delighted. We were travelling in an auto. A random sample of one. A 50-year-old driver. He said he is voting for change. We decoded that to mean TVK. He nodded vigorously. Then went on to give a tongue-lashing to the DMK on law and order. When we probed him on why he would vote for a man who rarely steps out, he spoke like a Vijay fan. Irrespective of the campaign, he has decided to vote for Whistle. There are many like him. And that is why this election is going to be path-breaking in many ways.

When TVK speaks of a contest between DMK and TVK, we now understand what they mean. For the key voter groups both parties are targeting, namely Christians, the poor, Scheduled Castes and Muslims, the real battle is between the Whistle and the Rising Sun. No wonder the DMK appears rattled. They were starting with a base of around 35% vote share before the entry of TVK. Now there is a growing concern that they could lose at least 15% of that support. The past three months seem to have been about trying to recover and consolidate this potential loss by adding a spate of allies. That also explains why the AIADMK is keen to leave very few seats for its allies in Chennai. The party senses that if its voters turn up, there is a real chance of victory, especially with the DMK’s vote base seen as depleted.