Chennai: Though there are at least five or six players in the poll fray, the actual battle, is only between DMK and AIADMK for the April 24 Lok Sabha poll. One could easily doubt a multi-cornered contest in Tamil Nadu if one were to go by the rhetoric of the two Dravidian majors.
Both AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa and DMK chief Karunanidhi have only sparred with each other thus far. Campaign speeches of the two Dravidian bigwigs have very little about other contestants. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP (Aam Admi Party) has benefited the most out of the Dravidian bigwigs prejudices, notwithstanding the fact that the D-day (April 24) is just a fortnight away.
If 2G case and sibling rivalry in the DMK were issues targeted by Jayalalithaa, the DMK raked up the Bangalore disproportionate assets case and power (electricity) crisis in the state. But for the occasional jibe at BJP for communal polarisation, both Karunanidhi and Stalin have been relatively kind to the saffron party.
Jayalalithaa was even more generous in carefully avoiding any mention of the BJP in almost in all her mega rallies.
Writer-publisher Manushiyaputhiran, who has volunteered to campaign against Narendra Modi’s BJP in support of the DMK, suspects that the campaign would make one wonder if Tamil Nadu is going for assembly polls.
It is unfortunate that both the big players were trading charges at each other, overlooking issues of national interest, he added describing Vijayakanth’s colloquial badmouthing of DMK and AIADMK as a comic relief.
Curiously, voices of leaders like MDMK’s Vaiko and PMK founder Dr Ramadoss who has largely stayed indoors have been relatively muted. Isolated Congress and communist leaders in Tamil Nadu have been quite vocal, but not to a good effect. The political dichotomy in Tamil Nadu perhaps is too big to be eclipsed even by a multi-cornered contest in this Lok Sabha election.
