Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran, also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist and filmmaker who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 till his death in 1987. He was the founder of AIADMK and mentor of J. Jayalalithaa. On 19 March 1988, M.G.R. was posthumously honoured with Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Artist) and Mutthamizh Arignar for his contributions to Tamil literature. He had the longest tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. Before entering politics, he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature, having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after a series of prolonged, age-related illnesses.
Thalikkottai Rajuthevar Baalu, better known as T. R. Baalu, is an Indian Tamil politician. Baalu did his B.Sc. from New College, Chennai in Madras University and diploma in drafting engineering drawings from Central polytechnic Chennai. He is currently the MP of Lok Sabha of the Sriperumbudur constituency, elected five times since 1996 from Chennai South and Sriperumbudur. He is an important leader of the DMK party and is known for political loyalty having been in the party since 1957. He is now the Treasurer of DMK, elected unopposed on 3 September 2020. He earlier served as the Principal Secretary of the DMK Party from August 2018 to January 2020.
Murasoli Maran was an Indian politician and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for 36 years, he was made a Union Minister in three separate central governments, in charge of Urban Development in the V.P. Singh government, Industry in the Gowda and Gujral governments, and finally Commerce and Industry under Vajpayee. Apart from being a politician, Maran was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too.
Dravidian parties include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Justice party and the Dravidian movement of C. Natesanar and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The Dravidian movement was based on the linguistic divide in India, where most of the Northern Indian, Eastern Indian and Western Indian languages are classified as Indo-Aryan, whereas the South Indian languages are classified as Dravidian. Dravidian politics has developed by associating itself to the Dravidian community. The original goal of Dravidian politics was to achieve social equality, but it later championed the cause of ending the domination of North India over the politics and economy of the South Indian province known as Madras Presidency.
Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Tamil cinema has played a vital role in Dravidian politics in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Films have been influential in Indian politics since the days of the British Raj, when movies were used for anti-British propaganda. Nevertheless, the leaders of the Indian National Congress viewed movie media with contempt. It was the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a Dravidian party, that made extensive use of this media for propaganda purposes. Adversaries of Dravidian parties despised the use of films and screen popularity for political gain, and Congress leaders like K. Kamaraj questioned the possibility of movie stars forming governments.
The fourth legislative assembly election of Madras State was held in February 1967. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led coalition under the leadership of C.N. Annadurai won the election defeating the Indian National Congress (Congress). Anti-Hindi agitations, the rising prices of essential commodities, and a shortage of rice were the dominant issues. K. Kamaraj's resignation as the Chief Minister in 1963, to concentrate on party affairs, along with persistent rumors of corruption had weakened the incumbent Congress Government. This was the second time after Communist Party of India winning Kerala assembly elections in 1957, for a non-Congress party to gain the majority in a state in India, and the last time that Congress held power in Tamil Nadu. It was the first time a party or pre-election alliance formed a non-Congress government with an absolute majority. It marked the beginning of Dravidian dominance in the politics of Tamil Nadu. Annadurai, who became the first non-Congress chief minister of post-independence Tamil Nadu, died in office in 1969 and V.R. Nedunchezhiyan took over as acting chief minister.
S. Jagathrakshakan is an Indian Tamil businessman and politician. He did his matriculation at Valudavur. He is a member of Lok Sabha of India from Arakkonam constituency of Tamil Nadu and has been elected from this constituency thrice since 1999. He was the minister of state for commerce and industry from November 2012 to March 2013. He is also the chairman of Shree Balaji Medical College and Hospital. He is the owner of Dr. Rela Hospital and Institute. He has authored 30 books, one of which was released by Mother Teresa.
Elections in Tamil Nadu are conducted every five years to elect the State assembly and its share of members to the Lok Sabha. There are 234 assembly constituencies and 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. The state has conducted 15 assembly elections and 16 Lok Sabha elections since independence.
C. Ponnaiyan is an Indian politician. He is one of the founding members of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He is the former member of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Tiruchengode constituency in 1977, 1980, 1984 and 2001. He started his career as a lawyer. Attracted by the ideologies of Arignar Anna and Thanthai Periyar, he took to public life at an early age. He has served as Minister of Finance, Education, Industry, Agriculture, Cooperation, Highways, Transport, Law and IT. He was a close confidant of Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G. Ramachandran and served as Minister of Finance under Former Chief Minister Dr. J. Jayalalithaa.
S. Thangavelu is an Indian politician and the former Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha elected from Tamil Nadu representing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Party. He had served as a cabinet minister to Chief Minister Dr. M. Karunanidhi in 1989.
S. Madhavan was an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Thirukoshtiyur constituency in 1962 election, from Tiruppattur constituency in 1967, 1971 elections and as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate in 1984 election.
S. Muthusamy is an Indian Tamil politician and Member of the Legislative Assembly and minister of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Erode constituency in 1977, 1980 and 1984 elections and from Bhavani constituency in 1991 election. He served as Transport Minister in MGR cabinet and as health minister in Jayalalitha cabinet formed after 1991 election.
K. A. Krishnaswamy was an Indian politician and minister in the Government of Tamil Nadu. He was the younger brother of K.A. Murugesan, a DK leader and K. A. Mathiazhagan, a founding leader of the DMK. He was the third person from the Kaniyur family to enter into politics. Initially he belonged to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and was a Member of the Rajya Sabha.
Nanjil K. Manoharan was an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was Tamil Nadu's minister of Finance during 1977–1980 and minister of Revenue during 1996–2000.
R. M. Veerappan is an Indian politician, an early Dravidian Leader, and a movie producer and screenwriter from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is the founder and leader of the MGR Kazhagam party. He served as a Cabinet Minister in five governments from 1977 to 1996, is a three-time Member of Legislative Council and a two-time member of the Legislative Assembly. He was the Leader of the House for Legislative Assembly and Leader of ADMK party of the Legislative Council. He was the architect behind the ADMK organization, unified the MGR fan clubs for the party formation. He was called as the 'Chanakya' of AIADMK politics in the 70's and 80's.
The list of political families of Tamil Nadu state in India.
Werner Horn is a South African lawyer and politician. He has served as a Member of the National Assembly since May 2014. He was a councillor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality between 2006 and 2014. Horn is a member of the Democratic Alliance.
