Politics in TN - change of scene every hour

 Even as Tamil Nadu’s political scene undergoes a churning ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections, the postponement of the Pennagaram
bypoll in the state has become the focal point for bitter exchanges between the ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK.

AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Friday reacted to DMK patriarch and chief minister M Karunanidhi’s statements raising questions about the election commission’s motives in postponing the byelection. She dismissed his insinuation that the EC could be favouring her party.

She said Mr Karunanidhi was trying to create an image that the EC was biased towards AIADMK which is “truly baseless”. In a statement issued from Chennai, the AIADMK chief said that during an all-party meet in December, all parties, barring the DMK, had favoured the postponement of the assembly by-poll.

Originally scheduled to be held on January 20 this year, the by-poll was postponed to February by the EC following requests by these parties. However, after that EC had issued orders to state chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta to investigate complaints of deletion of names of about 25,000 voters from the electoral rolls in Pennagaram, she said.

“Many parties and people had complained to the Election Commission in this regard following which it stayed the release of final electoral rolls and ordered an investigation. There is no connection to this and AIADMK,” she said.

Mr Karunanidhi, writing recently in the DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, had said that the frequent postponement of the bypoll might lead to suspicion among people that the EC was “biased” towards the Opposition. His statement, which was a veiled attack on Congress, came in the wake of an exchange of pleasantries between Ms Jayalalithaa and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at the EC’s diamond jubilee celebrations.

The meeting did not go down well with DMK which is a constituent of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and depends on Congress’ outside support in Tamil Nadu for its survival.

Mr Karunanidhi hinted that CEC Navin Chawla, presumably at the Congress’ behest, was responsible for facilitating the meeting. However, subsequently senior DMK leader T R Baalu clarified that reports claiming the CM had said this were “motivated”. This is possibly an out come of Congress dismissing the idea of joining hands with AIADMK after Ms Jayalalithaa signalled her readiness to explore the possibility of an alliance with Congress.

“Let us see how things work out. If the state is destined to get a good government, if the people of Tamil Nadu are destined to get a good government, they will,” Ms Jayalalithaa had said, leaving the decision to Congress leadership.