Tamil Nadu: Amma crushes graft-riddled DMK
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa returned to power in Tamil Nadu in a landslide state election victory on Friday, riding on an anti-incumbency wave mostly attributed to the recent pile of corruption charges that have entangled the DMK government.
The 63-year-old actress-turned-politician surpassed all expectations as she swept state Assembly, with 204 seats, leaving her free to form her own government without help from allies, while reducing the DMK-Congress combine to a mere 30 constituencies.
Embroiled in India?s biggest corruption scandal ever, the ruling DMK?s popularity seemed to dive in what was the first major election after the 2G scam became widely publicised late last year, and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will apparently have to vacate his seat after a five year rule.
Voters seemed to reject the DMK?s election bounty where everything from free laptops to cattle, and even gold was distributed among electorates. The AIADMK too had matched the gifts with their own but it was probably because of the graft charges that voters swayed away from incumbent.
Jayalalithaa, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief better known as Amma and herself the subject of several graft-related-jabs in the past, was quick to thank the voters for the kicking out the ?totally corrupt? Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government.
?The DMK has totally ruined Tamil Nadu,? she began, rubbing the huge defeat in the 234-seat Assembly election onto the Congress-DMK alliance led by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. ?Tamil Nadu has to rebuilt,? said Amma.
Once her victory was clear and Karunanidhi announced his resignation, Jayalalithaa came out to speak to reporters and slammed the DMK for the ?beyond description havoc and ruin? that they had brought about in the state.
“It is not an easy task to rebuild an entire state. We have to clear away the debris and build the entire house. It is a difficult task, but we take up the challenge for the people of Tamil Nadu,” she said.
She said the first priority of her government would be to ?restore? the rule of law and fulfil all the promises made in her election manifesto, within one and a half year.
She said people were totally disgusted with the DMK and when they got a chance they threw out the government.
?Wherever I went over the last three years, I found people totally disgusted by the DMK government. They were waiting for an chance to vent their anger; they were waiting for this elections,? she said.
“I thank the people. It is their victory,” she said.
The decisive win, which was met with great disappointment across DMK and Congress circles, came after the DMK?s A Raja, the former telecoms minister at the Centre, was accused of masterminding a huge spectrum allocation scandal that cost the nation in thousands of crores.