Chennai Corner

CM Jayalalitha is used to getting her own way. She tried to dodge a personal appearance at the Bangalore court hearing the disproportionate assets case by filing petition after petition till she had no choice after the Supreme Court directed her to show up. As CM no one dares to challenge her, it’s only the courts that have put a brake on her, the latest being an interim order recently from the Madras high court directing her to “keep her hands off” the Rs 500 crore Assembly-Secretariat complex.

Her predecessor M. Karunanidhi built it but she refused to rule from there and perhaps to still the murmurs of protest that so much taxpayer’s money was wasted, she announced that the structure would be turned into a super-speciality hospital. Only, the courts stopped her in her tracks and she was forced to suspend work that had started in order to convert the huge structure into a hospital. And now, she seems to be thumbing her nose at the courts. Last week she laid the foundation stone (by videoconference) to renovate at a cost of Rs 28 crore, the 10-storeyed Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai at Fort St George built in 1975.

While it would have been easier—and less expensive—to move into the spanking new complex where all government departments and secretaries can easily be accommodated she has opted to spend taxpayer’s money on a building that is not only old but does not hold all departments. A senior colleague, G V Krishnan always describes her as someone “who has Tughlaq DNA” (a reference to Mohmmaed Bin Tughlaq who shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1326).

But it appears that employees who were sitting amidst peeling plaster and tumbling ceiling fans are happy. “The officials and staff at the secretariat welcome the government’s decision to revamp Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai. The restoration is much-awaited,” says S Peter Anthonysamy, president-elect, Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association.

“The renovated (designed by CNR architects and approved by the CM) building will have an arch which will be a blend of traditional and modern architecture. State-of-the-art facilities like centralized air-conditioning and new electrical transformers will be set up,” said a senior government official. Interior roads, water and drainage lines will also be upgraded. The PWD department, which will carry out the makeover, has got the approval of the Archeological Department and the Heritage Committee of the CMDA (Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority).

When Bad News is Good...

One man’s poison is another man’s meat, to amend a saying. The Congress’ discomfiture at its abysmal performance in the UP/ Punjab/ Uttarakhand/Goa elections have led to smiles both within the DMK and the AIADMK. For the DMK, which started out calling the shots with the Congress in UPA-1 and the beginning of UPA-2, it has been a nightmare in the last 18 months as the unravelling 2G scam saw DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi being helpless when his daughter, Kanimozhi was sent to Tihar jail where she spent six months and its former Telecom Minister, A Raja, still in jail a year after he was arrested. Last year’s assembly elections saw it being helpless again as Congress demanded and got 63 seats of which it only won 5.

Now the poor performance in the latest round of elections has restored some balance in the alliance which had got skewed in favour of the Congress. “In UPA-2, alliance parties were rarely consulted on key issues. Hereafter the Congress will be more careful and we can regain our ideological ground on certain issues,” says a DMK leader.

For Jayalalitha, who has already been talking of her prime ministerial ambitions, the Congress’ discomfiture has made her more upbeat. The AIADMK had already joined hands with the SP in the third front cobbled up(but aborted) before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Now their stupendous mandates have given wings to their dreams.

Of course, both should repeat their performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and get enough MPs to do what West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee is doing with UPA-2 now—shaking it like a ragdoll. An AIADMK MP elucidates the gameplan: “We are in a good position now. We are hoping for a good tally in the Lok Sabha elections. With both the Congress and the BJP faring badly, there may be the possibility of our party leader suggesting a third front.” But the fly in the ointment will be the tussle between these regional leaders as to who will be PM. Mayawati might be out of the race after the UP results, but there’s still Mamta, Jayalalitha... It’s unlikely one will yield space to the other. That’s some comfort for both the Congress and the BJP.

Brotherly Bonhomie

Just three weeks ago, former CM Karunanidhi’s maverick son, Union Minister M.K. Azhagiri told reporters that he would take the post of DMK president if it was offered to him. While in the past, Azhagiri has only challenged his father’s intention to anoint Stalin as his heir, Azhagiri has never counted himself in the race so openly. In fact, he has always supported Karunanidhi continuance as DMK president. But this time his statement indicated that he was ready to take the family fight to the next level. But, nothing like a bye-election for bickering siblings or cadres to close ranks.

Last week, both Stalin and Azhagiri shared the dais and addressed party workers, implicitly acknowledging that their public spats were demoralizing cadre still grappling with DMK’s loss in the assembly elections last year. They made a dramatic entry together into the Madurai meeting hall (although they came in different cars) where partymen had gathered. In the next three hours, the brothers sat next to each other, talking and smiling, a rare treat for party workers.

Azhagiri, in his speech referred to his brother as Arivu thambi (beloved younger brother) and Stalin returned the compliment thus: “Under the leadership of Anjanenjan annan Azhagiri (braveheart Brother Azhagiri) , we should win the elections and submit the victory at the feet of our Thalaivar(party chief).” Whether the Azhagiri magic will work is anybody’s guess considering amma is in power and she has sent all her ministers to Sankarankoil to make sure the assembly constituency brings back the AIADMK. She herself is headed there on March 14 for a bye-poll scheduled for March 18.

Love is Flowin'

Mending fences seems to be on Stalin’s agenda. There was growing animosity between him and Salem strongman Veerapandi Arumugam over the last several months after the latter switched his loyalties from Stalin and Azhagiri. The beautiful friendship between Arumugam and Azhagiri included the latter’s visits to jail—and later to Arumugam’s village in Salem district—when the former minister was arrested by the AIADMK government for land grab. Stalin had kept his distance from Arumugam and found that he was chafing at the former’s suggestion that DMK’s party units be broken up into smaller units. Arumugam felt that Stalin was trying to cut him down to size in a district where his word used to be law.

Stalin’s supporters had hooted and booed Arumugam at the DMK general council meet recently for suggesting that both Stalin and Azhagiri were capable of taking over from Kalaignar. Stalin, who was made deputy CM in 2010, was so annoyed that the next day a directive went out from DMK headquarters forbidding him to interview youth who had gathered at the Salem party office for posts within the youth wing.

However, it seems all is forgiven because Stalin went to Salem this week and Arumugam reciprocated by claiming that their differences was a “creation of the media”. Stalin was generous too, saying “Salem has outsmarted all other districts which I visited so far in logging a staggering number of 1,626 applications from young aspiring cadre for 259 posts.”

Will the fake camaraderie make constituents in Shankarankoil gullible? Or will people fall for DMK Tiruchendur MLA Anitha Radhakrishan, who is a powerful AIADMK leader from south TN, mulling a “homecoming” to the AIADMK. The same Radhakrishnan who had ditched the AIADMK, resigned his seat forcing a by-election two years ago which he won with Azhagiri’s able help? The reason for Radhakrishnan’s “homecoming” was that he was not able to assert himself because Thoothukudi has another powerful DMK leader in former minister Periyaswamy who will not concede his turf.

Auto Suggestion

Chennaites have long paid an arm and a leg for hiring autorickshaws. A friend from Bangalore visiting Chennai had joked, “After getting fleeced on three occasions, I’ve decided to buy an autorickshaw. It will be cheaper.” On paper there’s a meter but unlike other cities in India, in Chennai the meters only have ornamental value. A passenger always has to haggle and therefore it’s relative because other factors like the profile of the passenger come into play. Is it a man or woman, if it is a woman then is she - as Janata Dal MP Sharad Yadav famously put it—a “bal kati hui” (bob cut)—is she single or with children, all these factors determine the price.

A friend with an “urban” profile paid Rs 180 to go from Annanagar to Chennai Central (a distance of 11.6 kms for which the government set fare should have been Rs 72) even though the auto-driver is someone she has on speed dial. He showed no mercy because he knew her, saying “You are the only person I can ask (for more money) because I have kids going to school, petrol prices have gone up, and inflation is making our household budget go haywire.”

The authorities have done nothing about this daylight robbery for decades because most autorickshaws are owned by the police or politicians. A driver told me, “I got an electronic meter five years ago issued through the RTO for which I paid Rs 5,500. It gets burnt out frequently because it is ‘duplicate’ and every time I go to get it repaired, they charge me Rs 1,000. So I stopped using a meter.” Even efforts by drivers to own their own autorickshaws, instead of giving Rs 150 to the “seth” every day, has cleverly been stymied. “Bank loans are only given to “seths”. When we apply for a loan, they harass us saying this or that document is not there. So we never own our vehicles.” The end result is that the customer has to pay through his or her nose.

The same thing happened to Ananthanarayanan Subramanian, a project manager in a Software Solutions Company, eight years ago when he shifted here from the US. He teamed up with Mayur Narasimhan, an IT professional in the US, to create meterpodu.in early last month.

The website serves as a quick guide to offer those unfamiliar with routes and rates in Chennai with approximate charges fixed by the government. Mayur Narasimhan, an IT professional who co-founded the project explains, “We offer the government rate based on the official cost for two kilometres and after. There is also an average ‘practical’ charge that is put up by users of that route.”

The website says, “Please add fares and let us know if you face issues doing so. The real power of MeterPodu will be unleashed only when we have a lot of user entered fares.” Mayur says, “The hope is that when more people are aware of exact fares, they don’t get fleeced too badly.” Let’s hope technology solves a decades-old problem.