Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee will be the names bandied about in the media as the big victors of this election. No denying that. But in an understated way, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, is one of the biggest winners. Under pressure for being non-committal on the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, and having had to endure a split in the grand coalition that he cobbled together in the previous election, MK and the DMK were expected to fare poorly. In contrast, the ADMK was supposed to be in the ascendancy, with some “political pundits” even predicting that Jayalalithaa would play a crucial role in Government formation. Bollocks!
Winning 18 seats of their own, when their entire combine was expected to pick up only 15, the DMK has sprung a surprise and MK will ensure that Tamil Nadu gets more than its fair share of plum Cabinet posts. That is price for remaining one of the Congress’ most dependable allies. Come rain or shine, the DMK does manage to win seats. And its impressive win ratio of over 80% (18 wins from 22) is possibly the best showing across the country by any party that contested in more than ten seats.
Longevity is its own reward, but when coupled with success, it is even more delectable. At (a couple of weeks short of) 86, MK surely must be given the title, “the Grand Old Man of Indian Politics” for never ceasing to amaze.
P.S.: Apologists for the ADMK’s defeat drubbing will tell you that the DMK won because of “money power”. Which is bullshit of the first order. If that is what it takes to win an election, so be it, and it is not as if Amma is not endowed with either the wisdom or the deep pockets to win at the ballot box. And Vijayakanth stealing votes from the ADMK is against a stupid argument. You lost because you lost. Being intelligent as to the causes of an event after it happens does not change its outcome.
And folks like Vijayakanth and Chiranjeevi, you are IRRELEVANT. You are no MGR or NTR. While you can keep chipping away, that is the most you can do. Keep making movies, or just retire.
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Tags: India elections 2009
Nice writing… however, i didn’t expect DMK to win in TN after all the stupid things mr. MK was saying…
You should also note the point that last time ADMK-BJP-MDMK lost against a Grand coalition. and this time, they Grand Coalition lost to DMK-Congress.
There has been definite split of votes. We can only count on Anti-Incumbent(UPA) votes which split between NDA, DMDK, ADMK-MDMK-PMK-rest of the crowd… if only NDA joined hands with ADMK-MDMK-etc, it would have nailed the coffin for DMK-allies in TN. DMDK is an non-entity (i’ve forwarded you a funny article on Thuglaq).
The salient features/outcome of this election.
1. Left – left out of govt.
2. End of Advani and Rise of new leaders in BJP – my bet is on Modi.
3. Rise of Rahul – though this was expected, i would like to see the route given the fact that he is in his 30s now.
4. DMK (Family) getting more ministers in center – i wonder who’s going to gain prominence in Delhi Circle: Dayanidhi or Azhagiri; Stalin would be the head in TN of course.
Also, i would like to see what’s the UPA govt’s take on quite a few interesting issues such as Black Money in Swizz banks (which is expected to affect some of the who’s n who’s in the Indian political powers).
Thala
Ennatha sollurathuney theiryala..
Amma winning here. Cong seeking Amma’s support at Centre. Amma asking Cong to pull the rug here to get rid of MK from state. Vanavedikkai !! Appadi ippadi neraiyya kanavu kandu irundhom. Ellaam manna pochu.
But, to tell you from what I had seen personally. Booths in Chennai are were completely taken over by DMK goons at many places. PSBB, MGR Nagar, Saligramam and at many places in Central Chennai, booths were completely taken over by DMK fellows.
There is a DMK guy’s Hotel in Arcot Rd, Kodambakkam from where the Indelible Ink was wiped out and goons were sent to put bogus votes. En friend oruthan 6 vote pottutu vandhaan. So, that way, they still do their notorious activities. In Central Chennai, every thing was completely stage managed.
ADMK kuda itha ellaam seiya kudiyavanga thaan, but see they are not the ruling party. And they don’t get police support.
Sarathbabu voda peru, ADMK Chittlapakkam Rajendran(now the Winner) peru ellaam, illama Saidapet la EVMs irundhadhu. Again, checked with own eyes.
Happy to see Cong coming back to provide a stable Govt at the Centre.
Any one taking this, ANNAN ANJANENJAN MK AZHAGIRI as UNION DEFENCE MINISTER ?? (as MK had spelt out in CNN IBN that he’d like to see his family members in Cabinet + you too had said MK will get a major share for TN in cabinet posts)
@Arun: Yes, but one cannot fault the DMK for the ADMK’s inability to bring more parties into its fold. The 25+ seat-projection for the ADMK combine was made considering this ground reality. Thanks for the forward. It was unbelievably funny.
@GD: You know well that the DMK is not my (most) favorite party. Yes, they do these things, no doubt. But politics is a results game. While we thump our chests at being the world’s largest democracy, it is with the realization that we repeat ourselves when we say “rigged elections”. Maybe some of our new political crusaders should, instead of trying to win elections, try to reform the voting process itself.
As for Annan Anjaanenjan Azhagiri, enna solla? It is surprising how many ministers in India’s Union Cabinet are “home ministers”, from MK’s home, that is.
Defence Minister ah??? Naadu thangaadhiya!!! Oru bofors patthadha??
Vijayakanth has to retire from movies irrespective of whether he retires from politics or not
@Selva: Sathiyamaana vaarthai. Couldn’t agree more.
Elections in Tamil Nadu are always a nightmare for psephologists and 2009 has been no exception. While most pundits predicted a win for the ADMK combine, the post-mortem now seems to indicate that ‘the people’ of tamil nadu supposedly had other ideas…Truth however is far from that…While there was the usual 2-4% difference in actual vote share between the two Dravidian parties, the real problem was not within the ADMK..
While you have dismissed Vijaykanth as an also-ran, I think he has been one of the shrewdest movers in this election. Rumour has it that both camps wanted him in their side desperately and offered him good money and a fair quota of seats (4-5, which for a relative newcomer is BIG in a Lok sabha election)..
However for all the anti-incumbency noise that he made before the public, he realised joining the DMK front would not help him in the long term. Neither could he join the ADMK as he deemed it the bigger evil. Keeping in mind that he has been putting his own money into developing the party organisation from scratch, its rumored that he suggested to MK that the DMDK would stand on its own, cut into the anti-incumbency vote and allow the DMK to win. The price for this was 3 times the money that was originally offered to him though he realised it meant having no MPs in Delhi which honestly he didnt care about. The money would be really useful for him to launch his biggest offensive in the next assembly elections which is where he wants to make inroads. The results show that he has consolidated his 8-9% vote share and also managed to completely negate the horrible PMK thereby positioning himself as the real alternative for the next elections. It seems everyone in rural TN calls him Karuppu MGR….
Some of the other reasons why the DMK defied logic to emerge victorious were
- Amma was ill-advised about the impact of the Tamil Eelam issue by Vaiko and ended up making it her biggest campaign issue when 90% of the population that voted couldnt care less about the plight of Lankan tamils. MK on the other hand kept an ambivalent silence.
- Amma also failed to sense the undercurrent in the northern Vanniyar-dominated districts where the Dalits and other traditional vote banks of the PMK were getting fed up of being taken for granted by Dr Ramadoss.
- Last but not the least, Amma was completely blown away by the money spent by Azhagiri and his goon in Madurai and down south. My grandma’s sister lives in MADURAI and she was offered Rs 100 by the ADMK to vote for them. The DMK offered her Rs 500 per person in the house and as per their records there were 3 including their maid servant whose name was part of my aunts ration card.. The worst thing was that they visited her TWICE so u can imagine the lengths they went to ensure a win for themselves. By the time the ADMK realised they were being massacred, it was too late.
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