With superstar Rajinikanth declaring his political dreams on the New Year Eve, Tamil Nadu politics which had moved around former Chief Ministers late J Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK and M Karunanidhi of the DMK, is flooded with nearly a dozen chief ministerial hopefuls.
The ruling AIADMK itself has many chief ministerial aspirants that include Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai, senior party leader Semmalai and of course TTV Dhinakaran, nephew of the jailed VK Sasikala, former aide to Jayalalithaa.
Though the DMK’s chief ministerial candidate is the party’s working president MK Stalin, he has a series of hurdles to cross. Following the acquittal of Kanimozhi and A Raja of all charges in the 2G spectrum case, there has been a strong demand from Rajathi Ammal that her daughter should be elevated to a prime position in the DMK on account of the hardships faced by her.
Moreover, it is yet to be seen how MK Alagiri, the Madurai-based son of Karunanidhi, would react to Stalin’s candidature. The DMK has not won any election without the cooperation of Alagiri who wields considerable influence in southern Tamil Nadu.
Anbumani Ramadoss, son of S Ramadoss, the founder of PMK, was projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate during the 2016 Assembly election. But the PMK could not win even a single seat in the hustings which also saw Anbumani losing to an AIADMK candidate.
DMDK leader and former matinee idol Vijayakanth was the chief ministerial candidate of the People’s Welfare Front, a third alternative up by the VCK, the Lefts, the MDMK and the TMC. Vijayakanth forfeited his security in the Virudachalam constituency while the PWF failed to win in any of the 234 seats. The Front got disintegrated immediately after the Assembly election. The MDMK and the VCK have cast their lots with the DMK.
Rajinikanth is the latest addition to this bouquet of chief ministerial candidates making the political horizon of Tamil Nadu a buyers’ market for the electorate. Kamal Haassan, another film star, who too had announced his political plans is making noises from the sidelines before he plunges into the arena. Haassan too has not announced the details of the political outfit to be launched by him. While professional political commentators have scoffed at the political plans of Rajinikanth, they are yet to make any remarks on the political dreams of Kamal Haassan.
There are strong doubts about the stability of the Edappady Palaniswamy Government because of the internal fights in the AIADMK. The 2018 session of the legislature begins on Monday with the customary address by the Governor. The ruling dispensation has just 111 MLAs in the House which has an effective strength of 234. If the Madras High Court which is hearing the batch of petitions filed by the 18 AIADMK MLA’s disqualified by the Speaker (for their representation to the then Governor Vidhyasagar Rao withdrawing support to Palaniswamy), the Government may lose majority in the House. The voters have a number of choices as Chief Ministers in front of them in the ensuing election unlike in the past.