A man rides a scooter past a giant poster of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state and leader of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party J. Jayalalitha, being prepared for an election rally in Chennai, India, Saturday, April 19, 2014. The multiphase voting across the country runs until May 12, with results for the 543-seat lower house of Parliament announced May 16. (AP Photo/Arun Sankar K.)
Chennai, April 22 (Agencies): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today ended her gruelling 51-day campaign across 40 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state and Puducherry during which she exhorted the people to vote for her party in April 24 polls and make it part of the next government to protect their interests. (Hectic campaigning in Puducherry as polling date approaches)
Ending her campaign in the city on the eve of deadline for electioneering, she signed off in style by claiming, “The lady in Tamil Nadu is better than Modi in Gujarat in governance.”
Reeling out data on various parameters to buttress her stand that Tamil Nadu was ahead of Gujarat, she asked the electorate who was the better administrator, “Gujarat’s Modiyaa or Tamil Nadu’s intha ladyaa (Gujarat’s Modi or this lady)?” to a thunderous applause and asserted it was she who gave the best governance.
The AIADMK supremo also attacked the DMK and Congress on various issues, especially corruption. Jayalalithaa, who has been steadfastly pursuing her national ambitions, has visited all the 39 constituencies in the state and the lone seat in neighbouring Puducherry since March 3 appealing the voters to prefer only AIADMK nominees.
Though her party’s alliance with the Left parties collapsed just few days into campaigning, Jayalalithaa went ahead and announced candidates for all constituencies and launched her campaign even before other parties could even finalise their alliances.
Along her trail, Jayalalithaa made fresh allegations against DMK leaders M Karunanidhi, M K Stalin, T R Baalu, among others, who she claimed had corruption charges against them.
Jayalalithaa, who rapped the Congress-led UPA and its erstwhile ally DMK during her initial part of campaigning since March 3, turned critical against Modi-led BJP government in Gujarat during the later part, attempting to counter predictions that she was soft on the saffron party and would join hands with it post Lok Sabha polls.
She made her first attack on the BJP on the day its Prime Ministerial candidate Modi addressed an election rally in the state capital on April 13, on the eve of Tamil New Year day. Since then she has been devoting a better part of the speeches to attacking Modi’s Gujarat model.
At today’s rally here, she rejected DMK’s accusation that her government had not delivered on the promises made in the 2011 manifesto, saying a majority of the assurances had been implemented and even the remaining would be fulfilled in the next two years. “When the DMK had not fulfilled its promises made in 2009 polls, the party is trying to cheat you by making promises again,” she said.
She claimed DMK was “playing second fiddle” to Congress even now out of “fear” of further CBI action against party leaders. Alleging that DMK leader M K Stalin’s family was using a Hummer car that was “illegally imported,” she said the CBI conducted a raid against him after the party withdrew its support to the Congress-led UPA.
However, the issue was put on the backburner as the Congress felt that the DMK will help it some time, she said. “Now, it is being said that the car has been conditionally returned. Karunanidhi and Stalin must answer on this,” she added.
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EC clamps prohibitory orders in TN
Chennai, April 22 (Agencies): For the first time, the Election Commission (EC) has directed all district Collectors in Tamil Nadu to promulgate orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code banning campaign by political parties and any assembly of more than five persons from 6 pm on Tuesday.
Addressing media persons here, Chief Electoral Officer, Praveen Kumar said, “The campaigning stops at 6pm today. We have asked all district collectors and Commissioners of Police to proclaim Section 144 throughout the State, prohibiting campaign by political parties. This is the first time such a measure is being implemented in the State. The prohibition will be in place until 6am of polling day.”
He said the door-to-door campaign is permissible under law but, more than five persons in a group should not move around. Any campaign through electronic media, meeting, and rallies will not be allowed. Politicians who are outsiders in any constituency should leave the place, the order said.
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Campaigning ends in Tamil Nadu
Chennai, April 22 (PTI): The curtains came down on the more than a month-long mercury-rising campaign for the April 24 Lok Sabha elections. The stage is now set for polling, which will decide the fate of over 800 candidates from AIADMK, DMK, BJP, Congress and DMDK besides others.
The high-decibel vote canvassing exercise was dominated by a series of barbs, charges and counter-charges as arch rivals DMK and AIADMK are eyeing the results as a self assessment exercise ahead of assembly polls, just two years away.
Top leaders across the political spectrum — Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, L.K. Advani, Prakash Karat, Jayalalithaa, M. Karunanidhi and M.K. Stalin among others criss-crossed the roads and airspace of Tamil Nadu, lighting up the electoral battle that is poised for a close finish due to a five-cornered contest. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has maintained a low profile during this polls, avoided campaigning in Tamil Nadu where Congress is facing the polls on its own.
If at all there could be an undercurrent of the intense campaign, it was Modi-bashing by all those not part of the BJP-led NDA, a new trend that was not as much visible in the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections. The Gujarat Chief Minister himself addressed a series of rallies in anticipation of his party-led NDA returning a significant number of seats.
For DMK, this campaign was all about its ‘Rising Son’, with party chief M. Karunanidhi’s offspring Stalin setting off on a whirlwind campaign, as his ageing and wheelchair-bound father seemed to take a back seat in the face of his old age and health.
Stalin’s hectic campaigning came in the backdrop of his brother and expelled Madurai leader M.K. Alagiri’s contention that his sibling’s signature was stamped all over the candidate selection process. He singled out AIADMK and its chief Jayalalithaa for the problems of people like power shortage, drinking water supply and law and order problems.
Ms. Karunanidhi hit the campaign trail later, Jayalalithaa, once in a while indicating of a post-poll support to Congress for a ‘secular’ go vernment at Centre. BJP, a relatively no-player in the Tamil Nadu political space, especially since its nil performance in 2004 and 2009 elections, seemed to ride the ‘Modi’ wave as it pulled off a six-party alliance, overcoming several glitches during the seat sharing talks.
