: The AIADMK cadres are upbeat, having already smelt victory in the air. Buoyed by the overwhelming projections the various exit polls have given the party in the next Lok Sabha, party leaders and sympathisers are expecting a “path breaking” course by their general secretary and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa over the next few days.
“We were pretty sure we would cruise through comfortably…the exit polls only reflect that confidence. They only confirmed that there was only Amma wave in the State,” quips a senior party leader in Chennai.
“We know for certain our party will bag maximum seats ever in the election. In fact, we are expecting more than 30 seats and we take the exit poll results as not exact,’’ he says.
“Amma’s political sagacity is set to manifest itself in the days to come,” remarks another senior party leader who has held several powerful positions in the past. However, he hastens to add that it is too early to talk of post-poll situations.
“Irrelevant of the number of seats the NDA gets in the Lok Sabha, their number would not go beyond 80 in a house of 245 in the Rajya Sabha. It would be interesting to see how they run the government in that situation. Already the AIADMK has 10 members and is poised to add one more soon, making it the fifth largest party in the elders’ forum. We are thus indispensable to any NDA calculation and Amma is fully conscious of that,” notes the AIADMK leader confidently.
In the AIADMK none dare speculate what course Ms. Jayalalithaa might charter in her definite bid to make her voice heard loud and clear in New Delhi after May 16. The leader claimed that the AIADMK would be a “natural ally” of any NDA dispensation – either with a majority of its own or that which depends on post-poll allies. “For the AIADMK, the NDA numbers simply don’t matter and it’s the role of Ms. Jayalalithaa that counts”, he underscores.
On the disproportionate assets case against Ms. Jayalalithaa and others going on in a Bangalore court, the AIADMK senior declined comment.
