KUMBAKONAM, February 20: ``Has former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha changed in any manner?'', Moopanar asks his home crowd in Kumbakonam. Not waiting for a response, he gives one himself, dripping with sarcasm: ``She has shed the cape and gone in for the saree. That's the only change I see in her'', he jokes.And the crowd that has turned up right in front of the Mahamam tank at Kumbakonam to watch Iyah canvass for the Tamil Maanila Congress' Myladuthurai candidate R Krishnamurthy, agrees cheerfully. And a group of youths sitting near the dais, adorned with illuminated cut-outs of a temple, church and a mosque, add for good measure: ``She has also given up wearing jewels''.
Moopanar quickly takes off on that point. He refers to AIADMK leader V R Nedunchezhian's claim that the large number of jewels seized from Jayalalitha's Poes Garden residence by the State Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) was actually gifted to her grandfather by the Mysore Maharajah long ago and asks, ``Okay, theMaharajah gave it to her grandfather.
But why did he have to gift two sets of gold and diamond ornaments... Did he have a set for Sasikala too?''. The reference was to Sasikala Natarajan, a close friend of Jayalalitha, against whom there are cases alleging possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income and under FERA.
The crowd mainly comprising the DMK and TMC cadres revels in the anti-Jayalalitha harangue. Moopanar who usually confines his crisp rhetoric-shorn speech to the ``opportunistic alliances'' forged by the AIADMK, for the first time in his over fortnight-long campaigning, resorted to a personal attack on Jayalalitha.
``Don't worry. We are all for the bicycle (the TMC symbol)'', said a nearly double-bent old man at Saakottai in Kumbakonam. Thrilled with the spontaneous response to his leader, Krishnamurthy said, ``After Ayyah's visit the chances are really bright''. But the local crystal-gazers have a different story to tell. The Vanniyar-dominated constituency witnesses afierce ballot-battle, as PMK candidate P T Arulmozhi is going all out to secure a chunk of the over 45 per cent Vanniyar population which is the PMK's traditional vote-bank.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
