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After MK Stalin with his supporters coming out KARUNANIDHI of Assembly eminent status too - it was the "VIP route ", as per HOW the politics in Tamil Nadu will police reckoning. shape up with the departure of When Veterans Departed Jayalalithaa and now, M Karunanidhi, Departure of the veterans has left the ruling All Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) as well remains to be seen. Are we going to as Dravida Munnetra Kazhllgam (DMK) gasp- witness the Dravidian politics taking a ing for want of top leadership or a supreme leader capable of keeping the herd together back seat? essentially to ward off poaching. "Vacuum in Tamil Nadu politics" was the way the predica- TamilNadu ment was described by aspiring heroes with political dreams. Rajinikanth and later Kamal Hasan are now vying to fill the vacuum in the political space. Of course, the filmy forage into poli- tics began in February, soon after Jayalalithaa's demise and even as Muthuvel Karunanidhi's (MK) ill health was forcing him into retirement gradually. But ust stand on Dr Radhakrishnan Road in South this development is on the sidelines as on date. and stare at Bay of Bengal (Marina The DMK party men, 90 percent of whom are Hindus beach) that the road leads you to. To your left according to MK Stalin, find public space in the state slow- lies Gopalapuram which lost its nonagenarian ly shedding the bizarre brand of secularism promoted by celebrity resident M.Ka,"nanldhl on Auqust 7 Karunanidhi. S Gurumurthy, political commentator and OJJ And to your right lies Poes Garden which lost Editor of Thuglak, describes that as the "contribution of its own celebrity resident J Jayalalithaa on December 5, MK to Tamil Nadu politics".' His brand of secularism 2016. With the passing away of the duo, the road lost its degenerated "from being just sensitive to the minorities

24 I Organiser I August 26, 2018 • REPORT I

and became insensitive to the major- of Jaya's associate Sasikala serving Madurai, the Alagiri bastion, inciden- ity" That has whetted the appetite of a, four-year sentence in Bengaluru tally. a section of the minority with anti- prison. Latest is the case of Second, the very mention of a Hindu rhetoric. There is signal fallout Karunanidhi. After he was interred on vacuum in the post Jaya - Karuna as post Karunanidhi days unfolded - August 8 in the Marina beach close interregnum was shot down with dis- .dropping atheist posturing by the to his mentor Annadurai, his Madurai dain by the spokespersons of both roadside. T!le hint was loud enough - based elder son M.K.Alagiri who Kazhagams, only to be meekly when DMK men and women rub- had been expelled from DMK four admitted now in terms of their inabil- bished the most indecent appeal by years ago, was seen at his father's ity to throw up leaders of Jaya - the OK leader KVeeramani standing grave. He told reporters that he has Karuna stature. Then ensued in front of Kaveri hospital in Alwarpet the support of his father's loyalists - AIADMK's friendly overtures to BJP not to pray to God for the speedy an unmistakeable warning to over a period; it's crucial role in the recovery of the ailing inpatient younger brother and DMK's working election of NDA candidate to Rajya Karunanidhi. To Veeramani that was President MK Stalin, who is yet to Sabha Deputy Speaker post is seen superstition! At the end of the day formally take charge of the party. as an example. The visit of President the position of Raj Guru that OK cov- Next day, the DMK executive met Kovind and Vice President Venkayya ets in the DM~ durbar looks a distant in Chennai but failed to name the Naidu to Kaveri Hospital and later dream. party chief. Even while MK was alive, Prime Minister to Alagiri had fired the first salvo, hint- Rajaji Hall where Karunanidhi's body Strides of Change ing that only power seekers hang was kept for public tributes was With Thalaivar (MK) having depart- around Stalin. Tamilnadu BJP presi- made out to be a new thaw in BJP - ed, any DMK functionary henceforth dent Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan put DMK relations, only to be negated need not keep doubling as Bhakta it delectably, "Several stars appear in citing it as customary etiquette. indoors and atheist in public so as the sky once the sun sets. Let us Though it would be hasty to depict not to offend Thalaivar' as long as wait and see which one outshines this as, "Tamil Nadu inching back to he was alive. The Gopalapuram others." But she added, "BJP is not national mainstream", a wilful effort household of late Karunanidhi now for cashing in on vacuum created by gaining momentum towards that end unabashedly presents the look of a departure of powerful leaders. We cannot be ruled out. Congress, of devout Hindu family- ceremoniously are strengthening BJP at booth course, is mentioned as non-existent mourning its departed patriarch - level",setting at rest, for the time in the state. with a 'Kamakshi' oil lamp shedding being, media projections bunching Third, the Tamil Nadu voters too, light all 24 hours on a garlanded Alagiri - Rajini- AIADMK-BJP. All the are certainly tired of the electoral photo of 'Kalainjar'. That is about same, Alagiri is said to be close to choices before them, having voted in the feelings of the man in the street. Rajini. He met Rajini on August 1 and and out one of the two major Now, let us take a look at palace said, "I shall not split DMK, it will Dravidian parties, the DMK and the manoeuvres. break of its own". Meanwhile, wall AIADMK for over five decades. Take First comes the "jinxed" Marina posters screaming about emergence the case of RK Nagar Assembly con- burial: As of today, there are 4 former of 'Kalajnar DMK' appeared across stituency in Chennai. It elected an Chief Ministers of the state 'Resting independent. The voters saw to it in Peace' beneath the sands of TAMIL NADU voters that both DMK and AIADMK candi- Marina beach. Just 3 years after C N. dates are trounced in the by election .Annadurai's burial there, his monolith too, are certainly held there in December 2017. DMK split into two. MG tired of the In a few months from now, Ramachandran launched ADMK in Thiruparankundram (held by 1972. Following MGR's burial in electoral choices AIADMK) and Thiruvarur (held by December 1987, his outfit split into before them, Karunanidhi) Assembly constituen- Janaki faction and Jaya faction, cies are in for by elections. though power patched the divide having voted in and Trepidation is the word to describe soon. After Jayalalithaa's burial out one of the two the condition of both the big there, her AIADMK finds itself in the major Dravidian Kazhagams. Leave alone the much throes of impending split, with its 18 touted vacuum in the state; filling up MLAs defying CM Edappadi parties, the DMK the vacancy at the top in both DMK Palanisami Dy CM and the AIADMK for and AIADMK seems to be an uphill O.Panneerselvam duo; the rebels task. This is a scenario that Tamil function under T.T.V. Dinakaran, kin over five decades Nadu has never witnessed before. -

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