With Landslide victory Jayalalitha must revive true Democracy in Tamilnadu

With Landslide victory Jayalalitha must revive true Democracy in Tamilnadu


AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa wrested power from the DMK in Tamil Nadu on Friday 13-5-2011 with a landslide win, crushing chief minister M Karunanidhi's hopes of heading the state for the sixth time.


.Jayalalitha delivered a blow to Alagiri's influence in south Tamil Nadu, wiping out his candidates in Madurai.


The factors behind the DMK’s humiliating defeat were the involvement of its leaders in the One crore seventy six lakhs 2G scam and the Karunanidhi family controlling all party affairs.


The comprehensive AIADMK win was set to deny the DMK the status of a recognized opposition party as the DMDK, headed by actor Vijayakanth, and the Left parties have said that they will offer "constructive opposition" to the AIADMK government. What this means is that in the new assembly, Karunanidhi will not even be the leader of the Opposition because the honour is likely to go to Vijayakanth, whose party bagged 29 more seats than the DMK.


Jayalalithaa’s victory not only reinforced the cyclical voting pattern of Tamil Nadu but also blew away the perception of a rural-urban divide that the DMK was banking on to see it through on the strength of the freebies and welfare schemes t felt had touched almost every household in the state.


The Congress, a DMK ally, won only five seats, a big fall from the 34 it had bagged in 2006. The poor showing means that the Congress will not be able to get its way in the Rajya Sabha elections. Significantly, the term of union shipping minister GK Vasan, a Rajya Sabha member, ends in August and the Congress will not be in a position to get him elected to the Upper House.


Addressing a press conference after her resounding victory, Jayalalithaa said her priority was to restore the rule of law in the state and rebuild Tamil Nadu’s economy, which the “outgoing government has left in ruins”. She said it would be a “formidable challenge”, which she was used to, referring to her earlier returns as chief minister.


It is the people ambition that Jayalalitha must revive the true Democracy in Tamil Nadu.