Chennai Corner

Amma does a reality check…
The good news for AIADMK chief Jayalalitha is that there virtually was a stampede at her party headquarters, with about 25,000 making a beeline there, when the “Puratchi Thalaivi” went to meet her cadres after a long gap. It means voters are still looking to her to provide an alternative to DMK rule and are willing to forgive her penchant for shutting herself in an ivory tower and thinking a statement a day criticising CM Karunanidhi is all she needs to do as opposition leader, and high tailing it to her hill retreat in Kodanadu for months on end while her party went down the chute. 

With less than a year to go for assembly polls, she is showing signs of coming out of hibernation. Apart from showing up at her party office, she went to former AIADMK minister KAK Krishnaswamy’s residence to condole his demise with his son Mukkil who happens to be part of the AIADMK youth wing, sending the message that she was there for party functionaries. Then an upbeat Jayalalitha accompanied her two Rajya Sabha nominees while they were filing their nomination even if it is a foregone conclusion that they will win because there will be no contest. Incidentally when one of her nominees K P Ramalingam (the other was Manoj K Pandian) took his oath, she said, “You should have mentioned your initials. The DMK too has nominated your namesake!”

If she kicks up her current activities several notches, losing the likes of Muthuswamy and other leaders who deserted her to cross over to Karunanidhi may actually work to her advantage if she is able to convince voters that they betrayed her party and joined one which has used money and muscle-power shamelessly to win all the 10 bypolls over the last two years. The talk in political circles is that union minister for technology and communication A Raja, who is under a cloud for underselling the 2G spectrum (for about Rs 4,000 crore, whereas the government got nearly Rs 60,000 crore for auctioning 3G spectrum, so do the math) has allegedly made enough money for the DMK to lavish it on voters.

….and looks for new friends
It’s a kind of acknowledgement of the criticism that her inaccessibility even when it comes to top leaders in her party is not only alienating her from her cadre but also distancing her from the hard political realities in Tamil Nadu. And she is also accepting that if she has to stay in the reckoning, then she has to be a political animal, cosy up to those who she does not like because a grand alliance is what is going to work for her as the DMK-Congress seems invincible at the moment. Although with Rahul Gandhi not doing due diligence at the feet of CM Karunanidhi makes one wonder whether the alliance can be taken for granted. But that’s in the realm of speculation….

So despite Amma’s bad blood with DMDK’s Vijaykanth (they have traded personal insults), she has stepped up efforts to get him on her side. He has also come down several notches after successive losses which saw his party’s vote share dropping (in last year’s Lok Sabha election and all the bypolls) from a euphoria-inducing 10.33 per cent that the DMDK got on its first outing before the people in 2006. They have both realized that divided they’ll fall but united they might win because their constituency is common – votes that can be attributed to the legacy of MGR’s charisma. Despite her bravado, losing the deposit during the Pennagaram bypoll in February hit her badly because it came across loud and clear that she is not able to sustain MGR’s magic among the state’s rural folk.

According to party insiders, Vijayakanth’s wife Premalatha, her brother L. K. Sudeesh and presidium chairman Panrutti S. Ramachandran constitute the DMDK team at the negotiation table, while the AIADMK is represented by party MP Dr V. Maitreyan, Sasikala Natarajan and her brother-in-law M. Ramachandran (brother of Sasikala’s husband NatarajanP). Initially Vijaykanth is said to have demanded 40 per cent of the seats, whereas the AIADMK offered 15 per cent. They are still talking. As DMDK presidium chairman Panruti S Ramachandran (a fromer AIADMK man) said, “It is too early to say anything about the alliance. Vijakanath will decide closer to the polls.” But both egotistic leaders can comfort themselves that left leaders are cool headed (and who already part of the AIADMK alliance since the Lok Sabha elections last May) and will be the go-between for talks.

Pound of flesh eludes Ramadoss
Speaking of cool headed brings to mind another hot head in politics, Doctor Ayya or Dr S Ramadoss of the PMK. Last week it seemed that the DMK and PMK had stitched up an alliance. But when Dr Ramadoss, did not get his pound of flesh – a Rajya Sabha seat for son Anbumani Ramadoss – from the DMK, he’s playing hardball. Now Karunanidhi is showing his irritation after the second round of talks which led to the PMK saying, “a final decision has not been made.”

Dr Ramadoss has nothing to lose now with all parties deciding on their Rajya Sabha nominees (DMK -3, AIADMK -2 and Congress -1) so he may as well keep the DMK guessing seems to be the strategy he has come up with. Karunanidhi had invited him back into the alliance but almost made a RS seat a reward for loyalty. After all, Ramadoss had joined the DMK’s rainbow coalition, got not only a RS seat but even a cabinet ministership for Anbumani, but had ditched the DMK in June 2008 after bad mouthing the party and Karunanidhi.

He then joined the AIADMK last year, lost the seven seats he had extracted from amma and had exited after bad-mouthing her. That’s been the pattern ever since the PMK was formed in 1989. But Dr Ramadoss has been able to get away because he seemed to have the Vanniar vote, a sizeable number in some districts. But after his party even lost in the Pennagaram bypoll, he stood exposed because that election made it clear Vanniars don’t vote for his party en masse.

Now neither Karunanidhi nor amma feel he can hold them to ransom. But his only advantage currently is that neither of the Dravidian parties want him to strengthen the other side. Again Ramadoss is in no hurry, he can wait to see what picture emerges of the political scenario and then make his choice. But it could be advantage amma if she has a grand alliance – AIADMK, DMDK, PMK, MDMK, CPI, CPIM – in place.

Enough to wake the dead

No one in Chennai will disagree if the Mayor, M Subramaniam, is described as being publicity hungry, but this time he will also get a pat on his back because he exposed corruption at the Besant Nagar crematorium.

The Mayor, who was at the crematorium to check on ongoing civic works, casually asked whether the staff was charging a fee. Now the civic body had made it free and also instructed that it be used only for cremations. The staff said no fee had been charged but when the mayor called the numbers in the logbook at random, he found out that grieving families were being charged Rs 1000 to Rs 1500.

Arumugam, the person in charge found himself suspended on the spot and two of his assistants transferred. So far so good. The mayor can cover himself in glory at going after small guys making a few thousands. How about he took action against politicos behind a fire at Tirumullaivoyal in which 2,000 large, high-density polyethylene pipes worth Rs 1.5 crore belonging to Chennai Metro water were burnt? The politicos are believed to have started the fire as revenge against the contractor (implementing the Avadi drinking water project) who refused to give them a kickback! Guess who will ultimately pay for this arson? Yours and my tax bucks!