TN parties look for dramatic turn in 2016
28 March 2015 9:50 PM GMT
Tamil Nadu’s disgruntled Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M Karunanidhi, who is 91 years old, looks hopefully towards the poll battle in 2016, largely resting its hopes on a wishful premise: that the soon-to-be delivered verdict by the Special Court in Karnataka would go adversely for the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J Jayalalithaa in the Disproportionate Assets case. No less sanguine on prospects of political change- given the anti-incumbency factor and issues of corruption and law and order-are the smaller Dravidian outfits, a divided Congress and an increasingly ambitious Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with its eye on power. The Assembly elections due in May 2016 have triggered expectations for parties but none of them has formed any alliance as of now.
The verdict on Jayalalithaa’s appeal against her conviction and sentence; would undoubtedly have a dramatic impact on Tamil Nadu politics. There is an air of suspense as the orders of the Special Bench, which concluded hearings within the time-frame set by the Supreme Court, are likely to be made known soon. The apex court had extended bail for Jayalalithaa, who had stepped down from Chief Ministership after her conviction and sentencing in September 2014.
For Jayalalithaa, unlike her arch-rival Karunanidhi, patriarch of the DMK, it had been roses all the way since the 2011 Assembly elections when she inflicted a humiliating defeat on DMK, and later broke records by bagging 37 out of 39 seats in the May 2014 Lok Sabha poll. Her popularity had not taken a plunge as was evident in her party nominee winning the Srirangam by-election in January this year with a margin of 96,000 votes over the DMK rival. However, Karunanidhi saw in the 55,000 votes polled by his partyman a signal of possible revival of DMK’s fortunes. Undaunted by DMK’s own baggage of ongoing cases of alleged corruption involving its leading lights including A. Raja, Karunanidhi has recharged himself to sustain the relevance of DMK. Airing his views on contentious issues, the DMK leader has distanced himself from the Modi Government’s policies, especially on issues of religion and land acquisition policy complete with an endorsement of Anna Hazare’s stand in this regard. He has called for farmers to rally behind the Anna Hazare led agitation and attacked the AIADMK for its “double standards”, first opposing and later voting for NDA Government’s land bill in Lok Sabha.
Jayalalitha, confining herself to her residence, has been mainly providing guidance to her partymen including Ministers. But she joined issue with Karunanidhi over his charge and said her party extended its support after its suggestion for dropping the move to relax conditions for private hospitals and private educational institutions was accepted. Also, according to her,the proposed Act recognises states as equal stake-holders with appropriate powers duly provided to them. All parties in Tamil Nadu other than AIADMK and BJP are in line with the DMK stand on safeguarding the rights of farmers. Karunanidhi seeks to rebuild the party’s political space on such issues and on protests against the proposed building of check dams won the Cauvery by the Karnataka Government, for which a state-wide bandh has been called for on March 28. Karunanidhi has declared that the future of his party is with his younger son, M K Stalin, without nominating him directly as successor, after years of family quarrels leading to expulsion from the party of his contending elder son and a former Union Minister M K Alagiri. Stalin has been of late trying hard to galvanise the party for the 2016 elections.
The other Dravidian parties like Paattali Makkal Katchi( PMK) of Dr S.Ramadoss, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK) of Vaiko and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK) of Capt. Vijay Kant are virtually no longer in the BJP-led alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. PMK, which wishes to remain away from both Dravidian majors, has named Anbumani Ramadoss to head the party in the forthcoming state elections. The Tamil Nadu Congress remains as divided as ever,while G K Vasan has revived the Tamil Manila Congress; on the other hand E V K S Elangovan has had serious differences with former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and there are no signs of an enduring patch-up and the Congress becoming a cohesive force capable of giving a fight in the elections next year. On the other hand, buoyed by the Modi wave in the rest of India, BJP in Tamil Nadu is very much alive and looking to assert itself in local politics. It could get only a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections. But BJP’s National President Amit Shah points to the ongoing membership drive making significant progress in Tamil Nadu and hope to make it a ruling party.
Shah contended that Tamil Nadu topped the list in electoral malpractices though he did not make any reference to AIADMK which has come under allegations from other state-level parties for corruption and cash flows in the Srirangam by-poll. Amid a deterioration of law and order in some southern districts and charges of corruption hurled against it; including bribes for postings and transfers of officials, the AIADMK Government, for all the popularity that “Amma” enjoys still, would have to repair the significant damage to its reputation. The case of suicide by an agricultural department engineer on February 20, who flung himself before a running train, has assumed serious proportions with all parties calling for the arrest of the Agriculture Minister who had allegedly been putting pressure on the engineer through his staff for certain appointments. Jayalalithaa, sensing trouble, had called for the resignation of the Minister S S Krishnamurti but the opposition is demanding his arrest as well as a CBI probe into the murky episode.
Jayalalithaa has also over recent weeks tried to tone up the party by sacking several cadre functionaries due to their alleged misdeeds or anti-party activities. Notwithstanding all welfare schemes and programmes which have proved popular with large sections, the AIADMK would also be held to account for the prolonged power and water crisis and its inability to end power shutdowns within a year, as promised in 2011. IPA
The verdict on Jayalalithaa’s appeal against her conviction and sentence; would undoubtedly have a dramatic impact on Tamil Nadu politics. There is an air of suspense as the orders of the Special Bench, which concluded hearings within the time-frame set by the Supreme Court, are likely to be made known soon. The apex court had extended bail for Jayalalithaa, who had stepped down from Chief Ministership after her conviction and sentencing in September 2014.
For Jayalalithaa, unlike her arch-rival Karunanidhi, patriarch of the DMK, it had been roses all the way since the 2011 Assembly elections when she inflicted a humiliating defeat on DMK, and later broke records by bagging 37 out of 39 seats in the May 2014 Lok Sabha poll. Her popularity had not taken a plunge as was evident in her party nominee winning the Srirangam by-election in January this year with a margin of 96,000 votes over the DMK rival. However, Karunanidhi saw in the 55,000 votes polled by his partyman a signal of possible revival of DMK’s fortunes. Undaunted by DMK’s own baggage of ongoing cases of alleged corruption involving its leading lights including A. Raja, Karunanidhi has recharged himself to sustain the relevance of DMK. Airing his views on contentious issues, the DMK leader has distanced himself from the Modi Government’s policies, especially on issues of religion and land acquisition policy complete with an endorsement of Anna Hazare’s stand in this regard. He has called for farmers to rally behind the Anna Hazare led agitation and attacked the AIADMK for its “double standards”, first opposing and later voting for NDA Government’s land bill in Lok Sabha.
Jayalalitha, confining herself to her residence, has been mainly providing guidance to her partymen including Ministers. But she joined issue with Karunanidhi over his charge and said her party extended its support after its suggestion for dropping the move to relax conditions for private hospitals and private educational institutions was accepted. Also, according to her,the proposed Act recognises states as equal stake-holders with appropriate powers duly provided to them. All parties in Tamil Nadu other than AIADMK and BJP are in line with the DMK stand on safeguarding the rights of farmers. Karunanidhi seeks to rebuild the party’s political space on such issues and on protests against the proposed building of check dams won the Cauvery by the Karnataka Government, for which a state-wide bandh has been called for on March 28. Karunanidhi has declared that the future of his party is with his younger son, M K Stalin, without nominating him directly as successor, after years of family quarrels leading to expulsion from the party of his contending elder son and a former Union Minister M K Alagiri. Stalin has been of late trying hard to galvanise the party for the 2016 elections.
The other Dravidian parties like Paattali Makkal Katchi( PMK) of Dr S.Ramadoss, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK) of Vaiko and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK) of Capt. Vijay Kant are virtually no longer in the BJP-led alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. PMK, which wishes to remain away from both Dravidian majors, has named Anbumani Ramadoss to head the party in the forthcoming state elections. The Tamil Nadu Congress remains as divided as ever,while G K Vasan has revived the Tamil Manila Congress; on the other hand E V K S Elangovan has had serious differences with former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and there are no signs of an enduring patch-up and the Congress becoming a cohesive force capable of giving a fight in the elections next year. On the other hand, buoyed by the Modi wave in the rest of India, BJP in Tamil Nadu is very much alive and looking to assert itself in local politics. It could get only a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections. But BJP’s National President Amit Shah points to the ongoing membership drive making significant progress in Tamil Nadu and hope to make it a ruling party.
Shah contended that Tamil Nadu topped the list in electoral malpractices though he did not make any reference to AIADMK which has come under allegations from other state-level parties for corruption and cash flows in the Srirangam by-poll. Amid a deterioration of law and order in some southern districts and charges of corruption hurled against it; including bribes for postings and transfers of officials, the AIADMK Government, for all the popularity that “Amma” enjoys still, would have to repair the significant damage to its reputation. The case of suicide by an agricultural department engineer on February 20, who flung himself before a running train, has assumed serious proportions with all parties calling for the arrest of the Agriculture Minister who had allegedly been putting pressure on the engineer through his staff for certain appointments. Jayalalithaa, sensing trouble, had called for the resignation of the Minister S S Krishnamurti but the opposition is demanding his arrest as well as a CBI probe into the murky episode.
Jayalalithaa has also over recent weeks tried to tone up the party by sacking several cadre functionaries due to their alleged misdeeds or anti-party activities. Notwithstanding all welfare schemes and programmes which have proved popular with large sections, the AIADMK would also be held to account for the prolonged power and water crisis and its inability to end power shutdowns within a year, as promised in 2011. IPA
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