By IANS,
Chennai : The AIADMK was Friday all set to storm back to power in Tamil Nadu on its own steam with a massive mandate throwing out the ruling DMK government.
As per the latest trends, the AIADMK-led alliance is leading in 200 constituencies, with the party on its own leading in 153 seats out of 160 it contested in the April 13 polls for the 234-seat assembly.
AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa, two times former chief minister, told reporters her priority would be to bring back the rule of law in the state and also to restore its fiscal stability.
She said her government would implement the promises made in the party’s election manifesto within one and half year’s time.
Expressing her gratitude to the people of Tamil Nadu for a decisive mandate, Jayalalithaa said: “It is a victory for the people and democracy. Money power got defeated in this election.”
“Last three years I could gauge a change in people’s mood. Once they got the opportunity they showed their anger,” Jayalalithaa said.
She added: “Today our priority is to form the government. Tamil Nadu has been totally ruined over the past five years. It is not easy to rebuild an entire state.”
It was a huge electoral tidal wave that swept away the ruling DMK and few people expected such a massive mandate.
“We never expected a victory of this scale. We knew DMK government was on its way out. But we did not expect such an anger in the people,” T.K. Rangarajan of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and a parliament member, told IANS.
On the reasons for the massive victory and on whether the alliance mathematics did the magic, he said: “The AIADMK party is a solid force and nobody can deny that. The joining of DMDK, the Left parties and others also helped in a major way without splitting the votes.”
DMDK leader Panruti S. Ramachandran, however, said that his party expected such a massive mandate in favour of their alliance.
“We expected such a result. The corruption indulged by the DMK government and the AIADMK alliance’s pledge to the people prompted them to throw out the incumbent government,” he said.
Actor-turned-politician and DMDK founder A. Vijayakanth termed the landslide victory as people’s victory.
“This is a victory of the people and the party cadres, not mine. The victory puts an end to family rule,” he told reporters.
Karunanidhi Friday submitted his resignation to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala.
AIADMK contested in 160 and allotted 74 seats to 10 parties – DMDK 41, the CPI-M 12, the Communist Party of India (CPI) 10, the PT and the SMK two each, the MNMK three and one each to the Republican Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc, Kongu Youth Federation and the AIMMK.
The DMK contested 119 seats, allotting 115 seats to seven parties – the Congress (63), PMK (30), KMK (7), MMK (1), VCK (10), IUML (3) and a Nadar outfit (1).
It was a direct contest between the AIADMK and the DMK in around 80 constituencies.
With Jayalalithaa set to become Tamil Nadu’s chief minister for a third time, it will be interesting to see where she will start functioning – the new assembly complex or the old one at Fort St. George.
The new assembly complex is the dream project of Karunanidhi, involving an outlay of around Rs.900 crore.
Jayalalithaa had expressed her opposition to the project and had even termed the new secretariat a “circus tent”.
She has not attended even one assembly session in the new complex.
AIADMK leaders had said that they would revert to Fort St.George once they come back to power.
The swearing-in ceremony is expected to be held Sunday at the Madras Centenary Hall though she declined to comment on that when queried by the reporters.