Notwithstanding the widespread rioting and vandalism across the State by volunteers of the AIADMK who were upset by the verdict of the Special Court in Bangalore which found Chief Minister Jayalalithaa guilty in the disproportionate assets case, Tamil Nadu is waiting with bated breath for a change from the almost five decades long Dravidian rule. The BJP is trying to cash in on the situation.
The conviction and sentencing of Jayalalithaa is just the beginning of the end of the monopoly of the Dravidian parties in the State.A series of corruption cases in which prominent DMK leaders are main accused are on the anvil. Kanimozhi, member of Rajya Sabha and daughter of party chief M Karunanidhi is one of the prime accused in the 2G spectrum case.
The CBI has filed cases against the Maran brothers, grandnephews of Karunanidhi, for misuse of power and amassing wealth. Karunanidhi’s elder son Alagiri and family are also facing cases for unauthorised mining of granites and encroachment. The party’s poster boy A Raja is the main accused in the 2G spectrum allocation corruption case.
All is not well inside the Karunanidhi clan. Elder son Alagiri does not see eye to eye with younger Stalin. Both Stalin and Alagiri hate Kanimozhi. And all three together are suspicious of their cousins Maran brothers.With both the AIADMK and the DMK enmeshed in charges of corruption, people in Tamil Nadu are eagerly waiting for a change. Sadly enough there is no alternative for them to choose.
The Congress which ruled the State from 1947 to 1967 is nowhere to be seen. The fact that the party lost deposit in 38 out of the 39 constituencies it contested in the 2014 lok Sabha election speak volumes about the state of affairs of Tamil Nadu Congress. The person who is projected as the next chief of TNCC is facing corruption charges and it will not take much time for investigation agencies to zero on him.
Though there are caste groups like PMK and MDMK, they survive on the free publicity they get through newspaper columns and TV news channels. Anbumani Ramadoss, former Union Minister for health during the UPA-1 regime and son of PMK founder Ramadoss, is also facing a CBI case in connection with granting of licence to a medical college in Uttar Pradesh.
Vaiko, the MDMK leader and a spokesman for the Tamil Tigers ended up as a paper tiger in the recent lok Sabha election. This leaves a big vacuum in Tamil Nadu politics. Veteran political commentators are of the view that time has come for the BJP to step into this vacuum. “But BJP should do it on its own and not in the company of others. This is because the PMK and the MDMK are misfits in an alliance to be floated by the BJP,” said a young BJP leader who has been with the party since its formation in 1980.
The name of Narendra Modi has reached all villages in Tamil Nadu. All the public meetings addressed by Modi in the run-up to the lok Sabha elections saw record crowd which rattled even the 92-year-old Karunanidhi, a seasoned politician.
The BJP failed to cash it on Brand Modi only because of the negative approach of political traders like Ramadoss and Vaiko, according to Kattumannarkoil Kannan, a national council member of the BJP leader. “Ramadoss did not make any public appearance with Modi. He selectively campaigned only for the PMK candidates. That speaks lot about his selfishness,” said Kannan. He also pointed out that the BJP is the only party in Tamil Nadu which has a clean image.
“No charges have been levelled against our party leaders. If we are given an efficient leader who can take the party to the people and a machinery with which we can reach the villages, I am sure BJP can make it to Fort Saint George in company of like- minded groups,” said Kannan.