Tamil Nadu politics to take centre stage

Chennai, June 17: The Tamil Nadu political pot is boiling, with its leaders indulging in new moves leading to new developments.

State's Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi, also a key partner of the UPA government, is playing the key role in deciding the Presidential candidate for the July 19 election and his poetess daughter Kanimozhi is making her bow in politics as the latest Rajya Sabha member.

In the fear of being left behind the flip side, the DMK supremo's archrival, AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, who demitted office in 2006 as chief minister is in the limelight, trying to 'stitch up' an eight party 'Third Front' to take on the Congress led UPA and the BJP led NDA, the latter being her former ally.

The meeting which will be held to concretise the Front but with a different name, as she announced, is scheduled to take place in her Poes Garden residence here tomorrow. The prospective partners-the leaders of TDP, Samajwadi Party, Kerala Congress, MDMK, Asom Gana Parishad, Indian National Lok Dal and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha are to put their heads together to concretise the idea.

All this was preceded by high drama in the DMK family a month ago, when Mr Karunanidhi's grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran fell out with the former, after his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran owner of Tamil daily 'Dinakaran' published a contentious survey on the DMK chief's heir, leading to violence which claimed three lives. Mr Dayanidhi Maran had to pay a high price, losing his position in the Union Cabinet and falling out of grace of the DMK party.

His exit hastened the entry of Ms Kanimozhi into politics, and she is now at the threshold of becoming a minister in the Union Cabinet and act as the bridge between the Centre and the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

Ms Jayalalithaa predictably criticised Mr Karunanidhi of promoting ''dynastic politics'' in DMK. She also claimed that Mr Karunanidhi was eyeing the post of Vice-President after handing over the reigns to his son and Local Administration Minister M K Stalin.

Amidst this high drama, Ms Jayalalithaa is also in a spot of trouble, facing action by Madras High Court for having filed nomination papers to contest from four constituencies in the 2001 Assembly elections and filing false declaration.

The Constitution allows a candidate to contest from any two consituencies only.

In fact, there is more action to come in the political front, what with another actor Sarath Kumar, already in politics as a former prominent DMK Rajya Sabha member before quitting, all set to launch his own political party.

Mr Sarath Kumar switched his allegiance to AIADMK. But after a brief stay in that party he bid adieu and since then he has been making effort to carve a niche for himself in the political arena of the state.

He is wooing his own Nadar community. Whether the DMK's move to send in its woman MLA Radhika Selvi hailing from that community to the Union Cabinet albeit as minister of state, would checkmate Sarath Kumar, remains to be seen.

Also in the midst of these activities, the ruling DMK and the AIADMK would be daggers drawn again soon as their leaders set off on campaign tour for the byelection to Madurai (West) Assembly constituency on June 26.

UNI