There were days when mass leader and matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran preferred to contest from Madurai west and rural Andipatty and Aruppukottai.

A team of CBI officials from Delhi on Friday questioned Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s wife, Dayalu Ammal, and daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, in connection with a `214-crore transaction between Kalaignar TV, in which the duo are stakeholders, and Mumbai-based Cineyug Films Pvt. Ltd in 2009.

The hectic bargain between the ruling DMK and the Congress continued on Thursday and the two could not reach a consensus on identifying constituencies even after two rounds of negotiations.

The stalemate in seat-sharing negotiations between the Congress and DMK is likely to end in a day or two as the Congress, which adopted a tough posture, may decide to make a climbdown, sources said. With the five-member negotiation team, comprising Union ministers P. Chidambaram and G.K. Vasan and TNCC president K.V.

Bringing weeks of suspense to a climax, “Captain” Vijayakanth presented a birthday bouquet to the AIADMK chief, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, on Thursday and sent his negotiators to discuss seat-sharing for the upcoming Assembly election.

CBI sleuths stepped into DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam here and raided the premises of Kalaignar TV through Thursday night, albeit quietly, in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam. According to sources, seven to eight officials of the CBI’s anti-corruption branch came from New Delhi, entered the Kalaignar TV office

In a swift political move to put the brakes on the AIADMK-camp’s momentum, the ruling DMK on Friday signed an electoral pact with the PMK for the Assembly polls by allotting 31 seats to the party and assuring its support for Dr Anbumani Ramadoss’ re-entry into the Rajya Sabha in 2013.

In a major political realignment for the Assembly elections, actor-politician Vijayakanth is likely to announce his alliance with the AIADMK at the DMDK’s state conference at Salem on Sunday “to ensur

There were persistent rumours on Wednesday that Union minister M.K. Alagiri had sent his resignation to AICC president Sonia Gandhi and that the Madurai strongman appeared to be increasing pressure on his father, Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, to strip former communications and IT minister A. Raja of his post of party propaganda secretary and act against MP Kanimozhi and Tamil Nadu IT minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna.

Chief minister M. Karunanidhi is unable to breathe easy after sorting out the misgivings with the Congress and getting reassurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the alliance “is as strong as ever” as his son and Union minister M.K. Alagiri has thrown a fresh challenge at him, party sources said.