| Rising
sun may wither two leaves yet again in Chennai
Express
News Service
Chennai,
May 8:
The DMK’s rising sun has been eclipsed just once by the AIADMK’s
two leaves — in 1991, when the Rajiv Gandhi assassination helped
the AIADMK sweep Chennai on a sympathy wave.
 Late
M.G. Ramachandran, unchallenged Tamil Nadu chief minister from 1977
till his death 10 years later, had just one regret: His party could
never capture the city of Fort St George. Except 1991, the DMK alliance
has always captured all 14 constituencies in the city. So what will
happen this time?
Going by organisational
strength, the DMK is undisputed in the city. But its allies, except
the BJP, don’t count for much. A former AIADMK MLA said the
other parties in the DMK-led front can’t make a difference
to the alliance. ‘‘The AIADMK-led front has the Congress-TMC
combine and the two communist parties. The minorities too will vote
for our front,’’ he said.
If any one election
is considered a close indicator of the general trend, the 1989 polls
would be the best choice. All big political parties, including the
two AIADMK factions, contested alone with minor players then. At
the end, the DMK scored 14 out of 14 in Chennai. If the votes secured
by the AIADMK factions and the Congress that year are put together,
the figure comes close to the DMK’s tally. If a parallel is
drawn between the moods that prevailed then and now, the AIADMK
may well fare better in the city on May 10.
Yet the party
is contesting only five of the 14 constituencies, leaving the the
rest to its allies. A former AIADMK minister attributes the decision
to ‘‘the leadership’s lack of confidence’’.
‘‘You would remember that no party bigwigs dared contest
from Chennai those days. They preferred rural areas.’’
Even MGR failed
to make a dent because of the ‘‘well-knit DMK’’.
The former minister, however, refused to buy his party’s argument
that DMK always indulged in bogus voting. ‘‘The AIADMK
too does such things wherever it is strong. After all, we originated
from the DMK,’’ he said.
Other AIADMK
leaders agree that this elections, their party may well reverse
the trend, at least partially. This, after all, is the first time
that an incumbent DMK government is going to the polls. Though no
anti-incumbency is evident yet, the AIADMK has done little to look
for it.
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