Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, set to create history by becoming the first ever leader to retain power in the state since 1989, is leading by over 15,000 votes in Dr RK Nagar constituency in the city.
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Jayalalithaa vowed to return to the Tamil Nadu Assembly only as the Chief Minister in 1989 though many were convinced that she could achieve it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party had dubbed Jayalalithaa corrupt during the election campaign, promptly congratulated her.
A clear takeaway from the Tamil Nadu assembly election is that there is no challenge to the Dravidian parties in the state. He congratulated her on the “historic” victory achieved by her party, said the release.
“AIADMK’s legislative members’ meeting will be held today at 5 pm in the party headquarters and all the elected members should participate without fail”, Jayalalithaa said in a statement in Chennai.
Exit polls had predicted that the state will stick to the trend of voting in the opposition party – in this case M Karunanidhi’s DMK in a strategic alliance with the Congress. “While the Left will remain in the opposition, the BJP won’t win any seat”. The only two groups that found favour with the AIADMK were Mukkulathor Puli Padai, a Thevar-outfit led by Karunas, a movie comedian, and Kongu Nadu Elaingar Peravai, a Gounder caste group from western Tamil Nadu.
“We will win the election again and retain power”, AIADMK spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi told IANS. The party treasurer was instrumental in increasing its seat count four-fold from 23 to over 100 – although he couldn’t manage the final push.
Karunanidhi made his mark in the socio-political landscape for the first time when he led the famous “Kallakudi agitation”, lying over the railway tracks in 1953 seeking renaming of Dalmiapuram station.
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Officials said over 65 percent of the 58 million electorate in Tamil Nadu had voted by 4 p.m. This must have cost AIADMK’s candidates, including a couple of ministers in the outgoing cabinet, their seat. A former DMK finance minister called the identity formula “sharp and ruthless”.
