Undeterred by small hiccups like a party MlA speaking against her, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Friday exhorted her party cadre to go for a giant kill in upcoming Assembly election and win all 234 seats at stake. “You should work with dedication under my guidance. The 2016 Assembly election is going to be a landmark event in the history of the AIADMK and Tamil Nadu,” Jayalalithaa said in a statement issued on Friday.
“The party has done well in last five years by launching many welfare measures for people. Now we have to approach people like a student who has done well in his studies approaches examination,” said the Chief Minister.
Giving enough hints that she means business, the Chief Minister asked the party cadre to strive for a win bigger than the 2014 lok Sabha results in which the AIADMK literally swept 37 out of the total 39 seats which were at stake. Friday also saw Jayalalithaa launching facilities for various industries with an investment of `10,054 crore which ha a potential to generate nearly 25,000 jobs.
What is interesting is that no party has won two successive assembly elections in Tamil Nadu since the passing away of MG Ramachandran in 1987. MGR, who founded the AIADMK, won the Assembly elections held in 1977, 1980 and 1984. Since then Tamil Nadu is alternately shuttling between the DMK and the AIADMK.
The DMK won the 1989 election while the 1991 election saw the AIADMK demolishing DMK with a brutal majority. The DMK returned the compliments in 1996 when the AIADMK was swept out of power. The 2001 Assembly election saw AIADMK staging a comeback with comfortable margin though there was no visible anti-incumbency feeling towards the DMK Government.
The 2006 election saw the DMK which won only 96 seats forming a Government in spite of its failure to win a majority of its own. But the AIADMK regained Fort Saint George (the seat of power in Tamil Nadu) in the 2011 Assembly poll by winning 150 out of the 234 seats.
The question being asked is whether the AIADMK could make it a second time in succession. If the party wins the 2016 Assembly election, it would be a hat-trick of victories for Jayalalithaa. The AIADMK leader is maintaining her unassailable position by winning the 2011 assembly elections and the 2014 lok Sabha elections.