Chennai: The bipolar Dravidian political landscape in Tamil Nadu was shaken up after 50 years of dominance of the DMK and AIADMK, by newcomer actor C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in the Assembly elections on Monday.
Despite polling an impressive 35% vote share, TVK fell short of the magic number of 118 by just 11 seats, as it did not lead to a greater seat conversion in a tight three-cornered battle that threw up a hung Assembly for the first time since 1952 – though in 2006 the DMK fell short of the half-way mark and formed the Government with outside support.
With the DMK set to corner 60 seats (as of 9 pm figures) and the AIADMK likely to secure 45 seats, it was not immediately clear as from where Mr Vijay will get the numbers to stake claim to form a government as the electorate. Perhaps, it could come from some of the allies of the DMK and AIADMK such as the Congress (5), PMK (5), the CPI, CPI-M, VCK and IUML two each, and DMDK, AMMK and BJP one each. There will be greater clarity in the coming days.
Outgoing Chief Minister M K Stalin, who himself was defeated in Kolathur, accepted defeat and wished the next government well. The TVK’s surge was such that stalwarts including Mr Stalin’s 11 cabinet colleagues and Speaker Appavu, Union Minister of State L Murugan (BJP) and state leaders of the BJP and Congress were defeated. Leader of Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, retained his seat by a huge margin.
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The voters, rejected Stalin’s promise of a continuity in welfare governance and the NDA’s “double engine” development. While they voted for “change”, they did not deliver a single seat to Seeman, the other change agent heading the Naam Tamilar Katchi, who fielded candidates in all 234 seats.
In the end, Stalin was unable to break the DMK’s jinx of not being in a position to retain power since 1971. Vijay, who carried the burden of his new party on his shoulders, with no individual candidate strength to speak off, was able to stop two fronts led by established Dravidian majors. From Chennai to Kanniyakumari, the TVK bulldozed its way scoring impressive victories across regions and unsettling established vote banks on the lines of caste and religion, while the Gen Z extended support to him.
