SUPER AMMA BACK AT HELM
Splintered opposition in the state, policy of going it alone works in favour of Jayalalithaa
CHENNAI: J Jayalalithaa chose to go it alone and emerged a winner, the first time in more than 20 years that a party returned to power in Tamil Nadu.
She powered her decision to seek a re-election on her own strength by a string of populist measures, including the promise of an alcohol ban. A splintered opposition, with many leaders nursing chief ministerial ambitions played to AIADMK’S advantage.
And, she was helped by the mistakes of her opponents. The DMK that teamed up with the Congress, which instead of bolstering the alliance pulled the senior partner down.
Treasurer MK Stalin was said to be against the Congress tie-up, but gave in to his father’s wishes whose control of the party is absolute.
The DMK, says political observers, may have put up a stronger fight had it projected Stalin as the CM candidate. But that was not to be.
When Jayalalithaa sat down to plot her return in the 2016, two years after she successfully fought off the Modi wave winning 37 of the state’s 39 Lok Sabha seats, she was sure of a positive outcome in 217 assembly segments. These constituencies were part of the 37 Lok Sabha seats won by AIADMK.
But assembly elections are a different game and her biggest foe was anti-incumbency. She took it head-on by unleashing welfare schemes that were implemented with a determined zeal.
Her chances brightened with the emergence of two new CM aspirants– Captain Vijayakanth of the DMDK and PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss. With the Left dumped by Amma, and Vaiko teaming up with Vijayakanth, and PMK going its own way, the chances of anti-incumbency vote getting split brightened. Karunanidhi tried to keep Vijayakanth on his side, but the actor-turned-politician chose Peoples Welfare Front.
The move left a section of the party furious that accused Vijayakanth’s of helping Amma. In fact, Vaiko, who helmed PWF-DMDK-TMC alliance, was described as the “B Team of Amma”. If political rivals lent a helping hand, her record of keeping poll promises had the voters believe in the new ones as well. Her promise to ban alcohol found a resonance among women voters, who turned out in large numbers on the polling day.
Though poor handling of floods cost her in Chennai, with the DMK regaining its stronghold, the flood waters did little to dampen the voters’ trust in Amma outside the state capital.