As a post-Jayalalithaa Tamil Nadu is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls, women power in politics has not waned in the state even in the absence of the lady who took on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in 2014.
Prominent women candidates like DMK's Kanimozhi and BJP's Tamilisai Soundararajan will be in the fray in the state in these polls too. Actress Khushboo too would like to test her electoral fortunes if the Congress leadership gives the go-ahead.
In Thoothukudi
Smoke has not yet set over the coastal town of Thoothukudi, but electoral battle lines are getting drawn in the land still reeling from the police firing against the anti-Sterlite agitation that claimed the life of 33 persons, according to official estimates. With none other than Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of late DMK leader Kalaigner Karunanidhi, poised to fight BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan, the constituency is sure to witness an interesting battle during the coming general elections.
It is not just lyrical names that Kanimozhi and Tamilisai have in common. They also share some hefty political pedigree too.
Kanimozhi: The poet and ex-journalist has already served two terms as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha.
Chances: The constituency is a traditional bastion of the DMK. The region was ‘adopted’ by Kanimozhi in her capacity as Rajya Sabha MP. She has been playing a prominent role in the party activities in the constituency for the past six months. According to the party, Kanimozhi might even be considered for the deputy prime minister’s post in case DMK reaches a position to share power in the newly formed government.
Tamilisai: The state BJP chief is the daughter of Kumari Ananthan, senior Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu PCC president. She is a doctor by profession. Though she has contested Lok Sabha and assembly elections thrice before, she ended up losing.
Chances: She is certainly a powerful fighter. Even though the BJP has barely four per cent vote share in the state, the party is indeed getting plenty of media coverage. Tamilisai, who maintains an active prole in the constituency, will certainly make her presence felt in the polls.
Khushboo: The actor-turned-politician, who has turned 48, does not hide her political ambitions. Khushboo and her fans are under the firm belief that the Congress high command would give the go-ahead to her dreams of contesting in the Lok Sabha polls. As the actor and her fans are waiting for a nod from the AICC, many in the party are sneering away at her dreams, as ‘’the most beautiful, improbable ones.”
Khushboo had joined the DMK with the blessings of Karunanidhi in 2000. But was ignored as Stalin gained upper hand in the party and subsequently she sought refuge in the Congress. She became an active presence on TV channels as the spokesperson of the national party. She had hopes of getting the post of Tamil Nadu PCC working president, but was appointed as the joint convener of election campaign committee.
The challenge: Only 10 seats are allotted to Congress in the alliance with DMK and there is considerable contest for the available seats.
Amma's legacy
Who is the best ruler? Modi of Gujarat or the Lady of Tamil Nadu? This was the question that rose from Tamil Nadu during the last Lok Sabha polls. And the answer was found in the poll results when the AIADMK grabbed a whopping 37 out of 39 seats in the state even in the midst of the Modi wave that swept up the whole country. The party also swept into power in the assembly polls that came two years later.
Of course, the party of Jayalalithaa who managed to block the Modi wave all by herself, has now sought the alliance of the BJP, in order to overcome her absence. The BJP knows it too well that to make any inroads into the Tamil Nadu politics, they cannot do away with the name of Jayalalithaa. Her picture looms large in all the posters and banners of the AIADMK alliance. Even MGR, the founder of the party, takes the backseat there. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami takes extreme care to make his speeches replete with Amma’s name wherever possible.
