CHENNAI: The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu is set to witness a six-cornered fight for the first time in decades, but the Dravidian majors, AIADMK and DMK, appear adopting a deliberate strategy to keep the high-stakes poll battle only between them by ‘ignoring’ other major and marginal players in their election campaign. Having ruled the state alternatively, except from 1977 to 1987 when the late matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran adorned the throne for three consecutive terms, the arch-rivals are very careful in not giving “importance or recognition” to other major players in this election like DMDK-PWA combine and PMK, which is going solo.
The May 16 elections are set to be a political potboiler with six fronts — AIADMK, DMK-Congress, PWA-DMDK, PMK, BJP and Naam Thamizhar — in the fray. Ever since she launched her campaign from Chennai on April 9, Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa has gone all guns blazing only against DMK and its chief M. Karunanidhi. Even on issues like prohibition, which was brought to centrestage by PMK and DMDK-PWA combine, Jayalalithaa chose to attack only the DMK and former Chief Minister in every public rally she has addressed so far.
On prohibition, the Chief Minister has directed her attack only towards the DMK though the stand of her government is being criticised by almost all political parties. DMK is not lagging behind. Though leaders of DMDK-PWA combine, BJP and PMK have been attacking the party without any frills, DMK treasurer and star campaigner M.K. Stalin has been focusing all his energy on attacking only Jayalalithaa in his poll campaign. Both parties have so far not reacted to statements by leaders other than the principal rival.
Political analysts and observers say this is an old strategy adopted by major political parties to keep new and smaller rivals away from spotlight so that they send out an impression among the general public that the fight is only between the two and others are in the fray only for the sake of being there. Sumanth C. Raman, a political analyst in Chennai, sees nothing wrong in the strategy adopted by the two parties as he claims that the smaller parties are “running to lose.”
“I think both major parties recognise the power of the other. The AIADMK recognises that if some party can knock it off from the perch of power, it could only be the DMK. Same way, the DMK knows that the only force that can come in the way of it regaining power is AIADMK. I personally feel the smaller parties are running to lose,” he told DC. Political observers feel one reason for AIADMK chief to not attack the DMDK-PWA combine could be because of the perception that the alliance would get a good chunk of the anti-incumbency votes.
“If the PWA gets nearly 20 per cent or a little more than that, it could affect the AIADMK as well,” Raman said. “Though there seems to be a good name for People’s Welfare Alliance, both DMK and AIADMK are keep equidistance from the combine as they think giving importance to the statement of the leaders would get the alliance more votes. By attacking each other, they would want to ensure it is a two-way fight,” Sathish Kumar, an engineer who closely observes politics, said.
