This election season, the PMK is going with AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha. For a man who had some years ago advocated public flogging if someone from his family entered politics, Dr Ramadoss has made certain his son, till recently the Union minister for health, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, will re-enter the Rajya Sabha with the help of the AIADMK in 2012.While parting ways with the DMK and its octogenarian chief, M. Karunanidhi, the senior Ramadoss did not even bother with any niceties. Except for a brief lull late last year, Karunanidhi and Ramadoss have kept up a slangfest since early 2008 which has increasingly grown bitter. "We are much better off now," said DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran after the PMK’s exit. "We have less baggage to carry."
Be that as it may, things don’t look very bright for the Congress-DMK camp as a consequence. All Congress efforts to keep the PMK in its alliance with the DMK came to nought. "We tried our best to save the friendship," said a Congress leader. "We now hope the PMK’s departure does not hurt our chances in the northern districts." Six of the 16 constituencies that the Congress is fighting happen to fall within the Vanniyar community-dominated belt, where the PMK has considerable clout. The party has a critical five per cent voteshare. The AIADMK, meanwhile, looks all set to improve on the blank that it drew in 2004.
Earlier, the Congress efforts to woo actor Vijaykanth had also come a cropper. His party, the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), decided to go it alone, administering yet another blow to DMK-Congress prospects.
The pundits have already started saying it’s advantage AIADMK. But elections in Tamil Nadu are no easy game. You can’t say who’ll win till the last shot.
