Food for votes: DMK plucks for Rs 2 per kg rice

Chennai, Mar 29 (UNI) In 1967, it was rice for low prices which propelled the DMK to power. Circa 2006, it has once again emerged as a 'key weapon in election armoury' to unseat the Jayalalithaa regime in the May eight Assembly elections.

It was DMK Founder C N Annadurai's promise of ''Rubaikku moonu padi Arisi'' (three measures of rice for a rupee) which led the party to a historic victory, bringing down the Congress regime, in 1967.

Nearly four decades later, the wheel has turned full circle with the DMK promising in its election manifesto to provide quality rice at Rs two per kg to all ration card holders in the state in a bid to oust the Jayalalithaa regime.

When the DMK came up with the offer of rice at lower price in 1967, the entire country was reeling under an acute foodgrain scarcity.

This single populist slogan set the hustings afire though the DMK, after coming to power, had to settle for ''one measure for a rupee'' following bureaucractic pressure and financial crunch.

Now, the DMK's promise will involve a subsidy burden of about Rs 3000 crore, according to rough estimates.

By supplying rice at Rs 3.50 per kg to the Below Poverty Line people, the present government had been incurring an annual subsidy of Rs 1,200 crore.

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