Don’t lose opportunity to earn brownie points
Minister of state for commerce, Nirmala Sitharaman, inspects flood-affected areas in Ambattur Estate along with state BJP president
Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: If P.B. Shelley was alive and had heard of Tamil Nadu, he may have said, “If politicians come (out), can elections be far behind.” Yes. Politicos in TN are stepping out in large numbers and grabbing every opportunity to score political brownie points ahead of 2016, the election year. That said, what better opportunity would they get than the floods to impress voters?
One after another, every political party is sending its prominent leaders to walk in knee-deep water and distribute relief materials and money. DMK was among the first to express apprehension that the ruling AIADMK will announce massive cash doles, like it did in its previous stint, to use the floods to further its electoral interests.
History suggests that the Opposition’s fears cannot be dismissed for the flood relief distributed by then AIADMK regime ahead of the 2006 Assembly polls proved to be a definite vote getter. The DMK has now announced an emergency helpline and Rs 1 crore for CM’s relief fund.
Vying for a share of political space, Vijayakanth’s DMDK who reportedly announced more solatium than the state, and an ambitious PMK also proved that they are second to none in waxing eloquent against the incumbent regime.
Ramadoss almost matched the DMK in the number of statements. Add the two Left parties, MDMK and a few fledgling parties and it was raining photo ops in flood-hit Chennai as the Opposition got into publicity overdrive and won appreciation for the meals its served and blankets it supplied to the affected people after the deluge.
But, what is politics in Tamil Nadu without the two national parties? Both Congress and BJP had its national leaders flying down to the city to meet the flood victims. A day after Congress all India secretary Mukul Wasnik visited flood affected areas of the city, BJP ministers from the state Nirmala Seetharaman and Ponnar came calling.
But, make no mistake - the ruling AIADMK is not leaving anything to chance either. Having faced criticism aplenty, chief minister Jayalalithaa made her ministers camp at Mayor Saidai Duraisamy’s Ripon Buildings. Some also got their photo ops by walking in water.
Otherwise reticent AIADMK ministers and bureaucrats were allowed to talk to television channels on the state’s flood relief works. A few bureaucrats even put out statements on record to add vigour to the government’s PR exercise.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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