Has the horse bolted?
For a leader who has been called the imperious empress of Tamil Nadu, the last few months have been a lesson in humility. AIADMK chief Jayalalitha has lost all the bypolls held since the DMK came to power in 2006, even boycotted five last August, sending the signal that she had lost her fighting instincts. She is now facing desertions galore including of MLAs (three and still counting as elections come closer) from her party and has been forced to referee agitations outside her house by cadre upset over not being given posts in the party. The strength of the AIADMK in the legislative assembly, which was 61 after the 2006 elections, is now 57 not counting the three MLAs who are cosying up to the DMK and have been expelled by her. All of this never happened before because she was seen as the supreme leader and seen as the next in line to rule because of the ballot tradition here to veto the DMK and bring in the AIADMK and vice-versa (Incidentally, the founder of her party, MGR, ruled for 13 years continuously). And that is why we are seeing Jayalalitha in a different avatar, a more accessible, approachable and humble leader. Losing elections on a trot and blaming it on the DMK’s money and muscle power, even if that were the case, after a point seems like just a whine and a case of sour grapes. Particularly if the leader has acquired the reputation of preferring a life of luxury and vacations at a hill retreat for months on end to the rough and tumble of politics. It is to change people’s perception that Jayalalitha has suddenly become more visible and let her political instincts take charge. She has succeeded with her first outing when she went to Delhi for the diamond jubilee of the Election Commission and exchanged greetings with Congress President Sonia Gandhi after a 15-year freeze that resulted in the Congress getting cosy with the DMK. M Karunanidhi, unlike Mogambo, khush nahi hua.
Hitting the road
Last week Jayalalitha again stepped out of her ivory tower to lead an agitation in Villipuram demanding an enhanced procurement price for cane. The cadre is quite upbeat that finally she’s getting down on the ground as opposed to the statement war she had confined herself to. But is it a case of too little too late? There is also another quibble that she did not take up the price rise issue where people are affected the most. For instance, if she had agitated on the spiralling prices platform in a city like Chennai where everything from the price of dals and vegetables is hitting the aam aadmi where it hurts the most, she might have had more resonance. Also where was she when a sub-inspector was hacked to death even as two ministers and their officials watched callously is a question that comes up frequently.
The writing on the wall
Her edict that her birthday on February 24 should be low key and that instead of spending money on extravaganzas, blood and other donations should be done is not being taken seriously by her party cadre. “When TN is regressing on every front (the state is reeling under price rise, there’s a law and order breakdown and the CM’s family is amassing wealth), I ask my party cadres not to celebrate my birthday pompously. Celebrations will be appropriate only on the day when the AIADMK comes back to power,” she declared. To be fair to the cadre, they want to cover all their bases when there’s just about a year before elections. (Incidentally, in a never before seen move, she has promised all sitting MLAs tickets which in fact contradicts her own assertion that she made them what they are and that they are nothing without her.) So, P K Sekar Babu, north Chennai AIADMK district secretary, has threatened an agitation because corporation officials threw the rule book at him when his men wanted their birthday greetings for “madam” to go up on the walls. “We have petitioned them and if they don’t listen to us, we will remove all paintings of Karunanidhi and Stalin from the walls of the city,” threatened Sekar Babu. But Mayor M Subramaniam stood his ground saying, “Painting is prohibited on the walls of the 3,000 corporation buildings and along the four major roads. But AIADMK men are always adamant on painting and writing on the walls of corporation buildings. We can’t allow it.” That’s a convenient excuse because Subramaniam forgets all rules when it comes to DMK leaders looking down on Chennai citizens from the walls.
A look at Chennai’s walls is always an indicator of who is the most powerful person in the state. Thus while Jayalalitha’s battling for space, deputy CM Stalin, who celebrates his birthday on March 1, is already lording over Chennaites at Harley’s Road in Kilpauk. DMK cadres have put up a larger than life painting that shows a smiling, armour-clad Stalin on horseback with an unsheathed sword. The symbolism is difficult to miss – a warrior ready to do battle. Read the writing on the wall, madam.
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At last some ‘engaging’ news for Rajni
It cannot have been easy for megastar Rajinikanth in the last few months to see his last born, the charming Soundarya, being in the news for all the wrong reasons. There is the ambitious Sultan, an animated film with Rajnikanth as the super-hero, that has run into financial trouble despite the extraordinary initial hype and the rah rah reports about Soundarya, whose Ocher Studios, is producing it. Over two years down the line, there’s not even animated discussion about Sultan now. Then Soundarya found herself taken to the high court by former boyfriend, Varun Manian, alleging that he loaned her several crores (Rs 7.3 crore is what she owed him, he claimed) personally and from his company and she had not returned it. She was restrained by the high court from releasing Goa. It was only after a bank guarantee of Rs 1.6 crore that Goa was allowed to be released. Incidentally, her contention is that Varun Manian and his company had invested the amount – not that she borrowed it from him– because hers was a reputed company.
With all the bad press she got, the Superstar needed some good news. And he got it. Soundarya got engaged to Ashvin Ramkumar, an entrepreneur, on February 17, at a function that was lavish and full of frills and fun, which is completely the opposite of how Rajni and his wife, Latha, do things. Jayalalitha has often accused Karunanidhi of attending film functions at the cost of administration. She was partially right this time. He was there with both his wives, Dayalu and Rajathiammal, daughter-in-law Durga Stalin and daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi. Rajni is also upbeat because he is soon to become a grandfather again with the stork visiting his other daughter Aishwariya who is married to actor Dhanush. Now he only has to brace himself for the speculation that is bound to get another lease of life – about his political intentions and what it means if the CM attended his daughter’s engagement!
