TN polls: Surveys give clear advantage to Jaya

CHENNAI: There seems to be a quiet longing for change in Tamil Nadu as it goes to polls on Wednesday. At Srirangam, a 79-year-old Brahmin woman, waiting for hours in the shadow of the temple gopuram for Jayalalithaa to arrive, captured the sentiment well. ‘’I am praying hard for her to return to power ,”G Seethalakshmi said. “Karunanidhi has also done a lot for us. I have received several gifts and benefited from the schemes. But it is her turn to win now.”

A voter in Srirangam, an AIADMK pocketborough where Jayalalithaa is contesting , may not be an accurate indicator of popular mood, but she does symbolize a peculiar trait that has swung fortunes every five years in TN - the idea that the opposition deserves a chance.

Until the 2G spectrum issue took the nation by storm in September last year, the DMK was sitting pretty, banking on the schemes that reached almost every rural and urban doorstep. Today, the fallout of the scandal, which led to former telecom minister A Raja’s arrest, the CBI raids and scrutiny of assets held by family members of CM Karunanidhi, and finally the suicide of Raja’s aide Batcha has cast a shadow on its five-year tenure.

Even 87-year-old Karunanidhi, a shrewd veteran contesting elections for the 12th time, knows it’s an uphill task from here on. With his party’s share of seats thinning to 119, a simple majority seems unlikely in the 234-member assembly. In a recent interview to The Times of India, the DMK chief was candid enough to admit that a coalition arrangement could not be ruled out. “There is nothing wrong in a coalition government ,”Karunanidhi said, but asserted that if the DMK-led alliance won the elections, he would be chief minister for the next five years.

However, intelligence estimates and party-sponsored surveys have given a clear edge to the AIADMK-led front. Jumping aggressively into the poll arena with few disadvantages, Jayalalithaa is clearly ahead.