Jayalalithaa set to tie up with Vijaykanth's DMDK

NEW DELHI: With elections to the Tamil Nadu assembly round the corner, main contenders DMK and AIADMK have started finalising their alliances.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will arrive here shortly to finalise the seat-sharing deal with Congress. His arch-rival J Jayalalithaa is busy courting other stakeholders.

The AIADMK supremo is in the process of forging a broad coalition comprising Left parties, former Union minister Vaiko's MDMK, superstar Vijayakanth's DMDK and former Rajya Sabha member R Sarathkumar's Akila Indiya Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK).

Anxious to build a formidable coalition to defeat the ruling alliance, which is also expected to rope in the Vanniyar-dominated PMK, Jayalalithaa has been holding discussions with Vijayakanth, known as Captain among his fans, and Sarathkumar, who belongs to the Nadar community, in an attempt to shore up her prospects in the ensuing electoral battle.

In the May, 2006 assembly polls, AIADMK, which had entered the electoral ring in the company of MDMK, polled a respectable 32.64% votes, while its alliance partner secured almost 6% votes.

It still lost the battle to the DMK-Congress-PMK combine, which secured 40.49% votes. Vijayakanth's outfit, going solo, fielded its candidates in all but two 234 assembly constituencies, bagged only one seat but polled 8.38% to damage AIADMK's prospects in several constituencies. DMDK repeated the feat in the 2009 general election, forcing Jayalalithaa to rethink her electoral strategy.

A popular film actor who is quite a hit among the youth, Vijayakanth enjoys an across-the-board appeal, while his fellow-actor Sarathkumar's influence is limited to southern districts, where Nadars, who comprise some 2% of the state's voter-base, are present in sizeable numbers.

Left parties, which have considerable clout in districts which have a strong industrial base, were with DMK in the previous assembly polls, but have since gravitated towards AIADMK.

While CPM, which won 9 assembly seats in 2006, cornered 2.65% votes, CPI, which romped home in 6 assembly segments, pulled 1.61% votes.

PMK, which had contested the 2009 general election in Jayalalithaa's company is however, likely to rejoin forces with the DMK-Congress combine, even though a formal decision to this effect is yet to be made.

Political observers from Tamil Nadu agree that Jayalalithaa, with her umbrella alliance, is expected to pose a formidable challenge to the DMK-led grouping. In the past couple of days, AIADMK supremo has undertaken a whirlwind tour of the coastal districts in an effort to whip up anger among the fishing community over the state government's and Centre's 'indifference' to their plight.

Two Tamil fishermen were killed in the last fortnight by the Sri Lankan Navy, and the issue has snowballed into a major political row in the poll-bound state.

AIADMK is also hoping to capitalise on the anti-incumbency sentiment wafting through the state.
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com