16.5.11

How Jaya stormed the DMK fortress




In February this year, J Jayalalithaa reached out to actor-politician Vijayakanth and ceded 41 out of the 234 assembly seats to DMDK, a gesture uncharacteristic of the AIADMK chief. The seat offer took place a few days after the two leaders had engaged in a verbal duel. That marked the beginning of AIADMK’s efforts to cobble together a coalition to match the formidable alliance that the DMK headed. Jayalalithaa’s action to rope in DMDK and many smaller parties proved to be a masterstroke. The 13-party strong alliance comprehensively won even in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu, where the DMK had banked on the combined strength of the Vanniyar-based PMK and Thol Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi to make substantial gains. Clearly, successive defeats in elections since 2004 had taught Jayalalithaa the importance of a strong alliance. In 2006, she went almost on her own against a formidable front of DMK-Congress-PMK-Left and had to settle with just 60 seats. This time, she showed an uncharacteristic willingness to negotiate and conceded seats from the AIADMK’s share to Vijayakanth’s DMDK and the Left. ‘‘In fact, in the last elections itself, the AIADMK would have won but for the DMDK. In 50-odd assembly segments, DMDK’s votes were higher than the winning margin of DMK candidates,’’ said political observer Gnani. What the AIADMK-DMDK alliance did was to prevent a split in the anti-DMK votes. Many seasoned AIADMK leaders pitched for an alliance with the DMDK, which has a 10% vote spread across the state. They knew the damage the actor-politician could do to the party’s prospects, if he chose to project DMDK as an alternative to both the DMK and the AIADMK. The alliance, of course, faced numerous hurdles, especially after Jayalalithaa unilaterally released her party’s list of candidates for 160 constituencies. This led to the Vaiko’s MDMK snapping ties with the AIADMK. The Left parties and the Puthiya Thamilagam held a meeting with Vijayakanth sparking rumours that they intended to float a third front. But the differences were ironed out and seats sharing talks concluded. Again, when Vijayakanth kept away from the AIADMK front’s mega rally in Coimbatore, there was talk of the alliance collapsing over the egos of the two leaders. AIADMK cadres say that although the alliance played a role in shaping the victory, there were several other factors that contributed, key among them, of course, Amma herself. ‘‘The landslide victory is an indication of people’s trust in Amma,’’ said V Senthil Balaji, an AIADMK candidate. ‘‘People trust that Amma could give a corruptionfree rule,’’ he says. Yes, the anti-incumbency wave that arose over the 2G scam added wind to her sails.

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