Jayalalithaa makes history with 2nd straight win

Scripting history in Tamil Nadu politics, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa won the Assembly elections for a second consecutive time to secure her sixth term as chief minister of the state. The AIADMK won 134 seats in the House of 234 (poll for 2 seats to be held on May 23) while archrival DMK managed only 90, plus 8 seats of allies, although most exit polls had predicted its 93-year-old chief M. Karunanidhi would win a sixth term as Chief Minister.

In the spectacular victory she etched now, Ms Jayalalithaa has even bettered the record set by her mentor late M.G. Ramachandran, who had won a second consecutive term in 1984 but then his win could be credited to the huge sympathy he won from his Brooklyn hospital bed. On the other hand, Ms Jayalalithaa battled many odds, particularly the public disquiet caused by the rain-floods late in 2015, and won handsomely.

“There is no word in the dictionary to describe my gratitude to the people for giving me this tremendous victory,” said Jayalalithaa in a brief media interaction in her Poes Garden bungalow early afternoon, while thousands of cadres celebrated outside even as the ‘trends’ released by the Election Commission indicated a clear victory for the AIADMK in this poll for the 15th TN Assembly held on May 16.

“Ten parties opposed me. I did not align with any party. I placed my trust in God and forged alliance with the people. My life has always been dedicated to the people of Tamil Nadu . people did not let me down. I have always said that people of Tamil Nadu have trust in me”, she said.

Affirming she would “strive to fulfil” all her poll pledges, Jayalalithaa said she had “no other interest in life than serving the people of Tamil Nadu”, who had delivered a “historic” and “tremendous” victory to her. “It is truly historic because it is for the first time after 1984 a ruling party is coming back to power,” she said.

In contrast to the AIADMK jubilance, the mood in the DMK and the rest of the rival camps was pretty downcast. Stunned by his dream of a sixth term in swanky Omanthurar coming crashing down, DMK chief M Karunanidhi did not even issue a customary statement conceding defeat. The only reaction to the defeat from the DMK came from M K Stalin who spoke of a strong Opposition party in the Assembly. Another big casualty was the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA) of five parties —its CM candidate Vijayakanth bit the dust in Ulundurpet while its convener Vaiko of the MDMK ended up as the favourite of busy lampooners on WhatsApp. The ambitious PMK fielding candidates in all seats managed a win for its low-key president G K Mani while the fancied CM candidate Dr Anbumani Ramadoss lost his carefully nurtured seat in Pennagaram, a part of the constituency from which he was elected as Lok Sabha MP in 2014.