TVK and Vijay in a battle of prestige

Close to entering the sixth month after being sworn in on May 10, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay would be facing a real test of his political appeal and newly acquired charisma of a pathbreaker as the state faces bypolls today in two of its constituencies – Maduranthakam and Dharapuram. What started off as a regular volley of accusations and counter accusations between political rivals and their allies over the past few weeks had turned decisively vicious and aggressive as the polling date of Tuesday neared. In what clearly seemed like a prestige battle with different stakes for the outfits concerned – political relevance and weightage for AIADMK (whose legislators defected and necessitated the bypolls in the first place), wresting back lost space for the erstwhile ruling party, the DMK and most importantly, the assertion of the shift of balance of power towards its alliance for the Vijay-led TVK. Observers were quick to note how there was a difference in campaigning styles of the matinee idol-turned CM, who campaigned vigorously in the last four days.

In sharp contrast, when the Assembly elections were held, it was more of Vijay’s loyalists and team members who did the hard work to spread the party presence across the state. By the end of the week, if TVK is declared the winner, it would be closer to the simple majority mark of 118 by two more seats with its current tally being 108. Though till the last few days, the AIADMK seemed to have been enjoying a much better appeal among the voters than its senior Dravidian counterpart, the DMK, one is not sure as the public still seem to be in an open state of mind with regard to its assessment of the present government. Moreover, bypolls and the message it sends have often been a contested one as they do not always reflect the public mood and the support levels that an incumbent government enjoys.

With the rapid depletion of support and numbers for the MGR-founded AIADMK over a year and the surge of unpopularity which swept out the DMK, the logical outcome as is being agreed upon is to give the young chief minister a chance to consolidate himself independently. Many agree that this could still happen, but the margin of victory is still an object of interest for the observers. The results will be out by Friday to herald in an early Dasara celebrations for the victors while the older Dravidian parties may shrug it off at least on the face of it to go about their business of keeping the new government under watch. With Udhayanidhi taking over the adversarial role visibly for the Dravidian party and the erstwhile CM, Palaniswamy still in an unforgiving mood, the outcome may not drastically alter political routes but will show up quick recalibration of strategies for all the parties and how they need to brace up for 2029.

Tamil Nadu made a brave attempt to finish the Dravidian duopoly, and the new government seems to be selectively picking up a few populist practices of its predecessors while initiating dialogues on hitherto untouched subjects and areas of governance. Meanwhile the battle for supremacy will continue between the contenders.

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The Hans India