With the formalisation of alliances, finalisation of candidates (except in a couple of constituencies) and allocation of constituencies, battle lines have been drawn in Tamil Nadu for the 2014 lok Sabha elections. What stands out in this election is the handicap faced by major players in projecting any issues. Interestingly, all major parties are silent about the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Susheela Ravindranath, political commentator, said the 2014 elections from Tamil Nadu would be fought sans any major political issues. “The ethnic Tamil problem in Sri lanka is not at all an issue in Tamil Nadu,” Raveendranath told The Pioneer. BS Gnanadesikan, president, TNCC said the Sri lankan Tamil issue could never be sold to the people of Tamil Nadu. “Had it been so, Vaiko, the MDMK chief, would have been Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu long back,” he said.

While the DMK has gone to town alleging the three-year-old AIADMK Government responsible for price rise, power shortage and stagnation of development works, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa demolishes all the charges in her acerbic style. .

Jayalalithaa’s offensives are directed against the 10-year-old misrule of the UPA Government at the Centre in which the DMK was an important ally till March 2013. She spares no opportunities to blast the DMK and the Congress for their discrimination against Opposition-ruled States, all round failure in reviving the economy and controlling the prices of essential goods. The attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri lankan Navy and the failure of the UPA Government to take up the issue with the Government of the island nation has been vividly portrayed by Jayalalithaa throughout her campaign.

Though the left claims it called off the alliance with AIADMK for the paltry number of seats offered by Jayalalithaa, CPI(M) leader G Ramakrishnan and CPI’s David Pandian let the cat out of the bag when they questioned Jayalalithaa’s silence on Narendra Modi and the BJP. Her reply that she was trying to save the country and Tamil Nadu from the clutches of the UPA and the DMK has silenced the Communists who are not relevant in Tamil Nadu.

The Congress is focusing on the “achievements” made by the decade-old UPA Government. “The Congress failed in explaining to the people about the good work done by the party during the last 10 years. Most of the programmes showcased by the State Governments as their innovations and development were launched by the Congress. Our campaign is to take these developments straight to the people,” CD Meyyappan, leader of TNCC and Central Chennai candidate told The Pioneer.

Both Karunanidhi and his estranged son MK Alagiri had endorsed the candidature of Modi for the prime ministership. Alagiri has started sending out orders to his loyalists to ensure the defeat of the DMK candidates. MK Stalin, the chosen heir of Karunanidhi, has failed to revive the sagging morale of the DMK activists which has forced the party to rework the campaign schedule of party chief Karunanidhi.

Since Karunanidhi, a seasoned politician, sees no crucial issues, he has taken out the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project which has been put in cold storage following the intervention of the Supreme Court. The nonagenarian Karunanidhi has been demanding the early implementation of the Rs 25,000 crore channel which he claims would bring down the journey time of ships sailing between the East and West Coasts of the country.

But Jayalalithaa, a vehement opponent of the Sethusamudram Channel along with the BJP, has warned that the project would sound the death knel of the fragile environment and ecology of the Gulf of Mannar and the livelihood of more than a crore fishermen along the Tamil Nadu coast. She also pointed out that all scientific and technological committees which studied the project were unanimous in their view that the project is neither economically nor ecologically viable.

She said she had asked the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and National Environmental  Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to undertake a study on the feasibility of the project. “Their studies found that the project is not feasible. The Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project is being implemented by the Union Government to facilitate the business interest of a single family in Tamil Nadu,” blasted Jayalalithaa while addressing people at Ramanathapuram on Saturday.

But MDMK and the PMK, major constituents of the BJP-led NDA are for the early and speedy implementation of the project. The fate of the project would be decided by the apex court and till then the DMK may demand its implementation.