By IANS,
New Delhi : The anti-incumbency factor has historically played a major role in Tamil Nadu, but this time the 2G spectrum scam and the alleged involvement of the ruling DMK party’s leaders, including Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, played a major part in influencing the verdict, say analysts.
In these elections, the youth, which formed a large part of the electorate, voted against corruption.
“The young generation is against corruption, and the majority of voters are youngsters. Raja (A. Raja, former union communications minister) and Kanimozhi having a role in the 2G loot was a blow to the DMK and it never recovered from it. The opposition took advantage,” says M.S. Khan, a keen political watcher and lawyer.
The DMK, which ruled the state for five years since 2006 with outside support from the Congress, has been brutally mauled. With results still coming in, the DMK has won in just 23 seats in the 234-seat assembly.
Its ally Congress too has faced the wrath of the voters for alleged corruption, winning only five seats, down from its 2006 tally of 34.
AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa, who is set to form the government having won a landslide victory, had raised the 2G spectrum allocation issue repeatedly during campaigning. The AIADMK has won 150 seats, compared to just 61 seats in the 2006 assembly polls.
“The people were fed-up with the DMK government already and after the 2G spectrum case, the situation became more clear. Jayalalitha used the 2G case as her primary election issue to hit the DMK, and it worked out,” political analyst Pritish Nandy said on the outcome in Tamil Nadu.
“The political divide is so sharp in Tamil Nadu. People are fed up with the DMK and wanted change,” Nandy added.
But Parasnath Chaudhary, a retired professor from South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University, noted that Jayalalithaa can not claim to be entirely clean on the corruption front, though this time the people have reposed faith in her.
“Though Jayalalithaa cannot claim that her government was entirely corruption-free in the past, it (verdict) was a massive outpouring of mistrust against the DMK and Congress regime,” Chaudhary said.
“The 2G spectrum case was the last nail in the coffin. Family politics and incumbency were other major issues. In view of Karunanidhi’s own deteriorating health, he should have resigned long back,” he added. Karunanidhi is 87 years old.
“Development and corruption are two major political issues these days and with Raja and Kanimozhi’s involvement in the 2G spectrum issue, the taint sticks with the DMK, the party they represent,” noted another political observer and advocate Vikas Gupta.
The DMK has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha and is supporting the Congress, which has 207 MPs.
Raja, a former telecom minister, is named as the prime accused in the 2G spectrum case and is said to be close to the DMK’s first family. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is another accused in the case, while Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal is a witness.