I was 11 years old when JayaLalitha swept TN polls & she became the Chief Minister for the first time… She won because;
- of publicising her saree removing episode in the assembly…
- of the alliance with congress and gained the sympathy votes gained by Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination…
That was an age where I was not interested in politics & that would be the talk of the town…
JJ’s first tenure started when I was too young and ended when I was 16 & an age where I started following politics…
That was a rule filled with autocracy & corruption… The whole state was against her & year 1996 was an entertaining year…
- It saw congress splitting in TN and Tamil Manila Congress emerged and allied with DMK…
- Super Star RajiniKanth almost entered into politics…
- Sun Tv emerged into prominence because of Sandlehood smuggler Veerappan…
All the above factors & anti-incubancy against JJ saw the end of her rule… Entire TN cherished & it was almost end of road for JJ…
Then 1996 was also a turning point for the state of TN… State was lagging behind other states & pro -capitalist DMK came to power both on the Centre with Third front & in the state…
Tamil Nadu saw true development in terms of infrastructure & with industries…
When left front collapsed in 2 years in centre… BJP lead NDA came to power & DMK right fully joins NDA…
Then everyone felt DMK would make it back… As JJ was facing corruption charges & still her autocratic rule was fresh in the mind… But there was an under-current which made all political observers wrong…
DMK collapsed & JJ returned to power… This time she did good governance with her autocratic attitude…
In between NDA collapsed in the centre during 2004 & DMK was prompt in changing alliance with Congress lead UPA and won all 40 parliamentary seats in TN & Puducherry…
Then came 2006 and people were applauding JJ’s rule & it was thought she will win… But DMK chief’s last minute promise of 1 KG rice for Re.1 clicked… Also it was perfectly timed & JJ couldn’t do much…
In spite she won 70 seats & DMK formed a government in spite of being a minority…
It was return of UPA for the second time… This 2 year rule is full of corruption & DMK minister was in the lime light of India’s biggest corruption till date… Also UPA 2 was filled with controversies like;
- 2G Spectrum Scandal
- Common Wealth Games Scandal
- Appointment of Chief Vigilance Officer
- Inflation
Now it is 2011 and the political scenario in TN is heated up… DMK has gone for polarisation politics & gave lavish numbers to number caste based parties… Their ugly quarrel with Congress happened in public & finally DMK bowed down…
As per vote share DMK is comfortable with 49% against AIADMK’s 41%… But DMK has to fight;
- Anti-incubancy
- 2G Spectrum Scam
- Already fragile alliance with congress
- Inflation
- Monopoly & Domination of Real Estate, Media, Movies & Television
- Groupism within the family
So far nothing is going right for DMK… Also seeing their feud with congress there can be post election alliance if there is a broken verdict…
Also DMK was in power in the Centre for last 15 years… May 13 should be an interesting day & it time to have fun…
AnandNataraj 