Opinion - Editorials   

DMK stays on course

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has put up such an impressive performance in the recent local body elections in Tamil Nadu that it might actually be regretting the violence and rigging that marred the Chennai Corporation Council polls. With some help from independents, the ruling party and its allies are in a position to take control of close to three-fourths of the local bodies. Since returning to power in May 2006, the DMK has gone about implementing the pro-poor promises it made during the Assembly elections in right earnest. Rice at two rupees a kg through the Public Distribution System, the redistribution of wasteland to poor farmers, free colour television sets to those below the poverty line, and doles for unemployed youth have all made a smooth passage from file to field. The broad-based alliance, including the Congress, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, and the Left, helped the DMK make significant incursions into the rural strongholds of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In all local body categories — Corporations, municipalities, town panchayats, district panchayats, and panchayat unions — the Democratic Progressive Alliance overwhelmed the AIADMK and its ally, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, by taking the wards roughly in the ratio 2:1. The DMK can justifiably claim that on top of its easy victory in the Madurai Central Assembly by-election, its sweep of local body polls was an endorsement of the Karunanidhi Government's policies and programmes.

As a veteran political campaigner, Chief Minister Karunanidhi knows this is the stage where the ruling party cannot afford to let complacency creep in. After the violence in Chennai and a few other places, the cadres of the Left parties, especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have been nursing a feeling of alienation from the DMK; this is on top of the usual differences over seat sharing. True, the switch from direct to indirect elections for the posts of chairpersons of corporations, municipalities, town panchayats, and panchayat unions will help manage intra-DPA relations better; after all, the DMK has a larger number of ward members even in local bodies where chairpersons' posts have been allotted to alliance partners. It is clear that the first stage of implementation of election promises has created a congenial chemistry at the grassroots. However, since the ruling party knows it is in the driving seat thanks primarily to alliance arithmetic, its top political priority will be keeping the DPA not merely intact but in good shape and form — denying the AIADMK the opportunities for a political realignment it so badly wants.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

DMK stays on course
The hated Act must go
The search for the puppet-masters
Remaking cities, changing people
Domains, policies and uniformity
The Apple iPod turns five today
`Baby losers' fight back
Creamy layer
Intrusion
Shocking

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu