Er, Excuse me, 93?
The “Amul baby” has got his come-uppance from Kerala CM V S Achutanandan. A day after Rahul Gandhi asked at a campaign meeting, “Do you want a 93-year-old as CM?” That’s what the Kerala CM’s age will be in five years time. Did Rahul Gandhi forget that his party is backing DMK’s Karunanidhi as the next CM of Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi too will be 93 in five years time. Besides, Achutanandan was initially denied a ticket by the CPM leadership, till a furore dictated a hasty course correction the next day. Whereas Karunanidhi (backed by son and deputy CM Stalin, the DMK and allies) has declared that he will come back as CM for the sixth time!
Where are the crowds?
AIADMK's Jayalalitha, DMDK’s Vijaykanth, DMK’s Karunanidhi even DMK’s star campaigner Vadivelu have attracted huge crowds wherever they have gone on the campaign trail. Reports say the same cannot be said of Rahul Gandhi or the PM. Sonia Gandhi was luckier, since hers was a joint rally with Karunanidhi. Footfalls in Puducherry where the rally was held was impressive. Did the fact that Rahul (and Sonia too) spoke in English at these meetings lead to the lukewarm response? Unlikely, because home minister P Chidambaram, whose Tamil is as perfect as his English, was faced with sparse attendance at his campaign rally in Erode.
At Sriperumbudur about a week ago, things were no better. But that did not stop him from scoffing at the AIADMK’s manifesto. The refrain by the entire opposition has been the same. That Jayalalitha just copied the DMK’s manifesto. Chidamabaram put it like this, reminding his audience that Jayalalitha had once lambasted Karunanidhi for turning citizens into “parasites” by declaring freebies: “Board exams are on. The students who have not studied, peek into others’ papers and copy. You can either copy it verbatim or make a few changes so you don’t get caught. And that is what Jayalalitha has done.”
Incidentally, Jayalalitha who has “copied” the DMK manifesto now says “Karunanidhi cannot buy everything. He should realize that you can buy a great many things with money but you cannot buy affection, trust and the goodwill of people” Don’t want to be a buzzkill but her crisp “hard luck” (to Karunanidhi hoping for another term), cuts both both ways.
Her pitch is Goodwill Hunting after lambasting Karunanidhi, his governance, his family, etc. She must remember that the TN electorate has the reputation of voting out a leader, not voting in someone.
'Freebies are not bad economics'
Chidambaram’s son, Karti, who is an AICC member, said in an interview in the local media that “we must not confuse populist measures as bad economics” and freebies should not be viewed from the prism of the “urban elite” As chairman of the organizing committee of the Chennai Open and also Vice-President of the All India Tennis Association and also the chief patron of All India Karate Federation, he has certainly spoken up for sports beyond cricket: