By V.Mariappan
Chennai, Apr 5 (UNI) As Tamil Nadu is all set tgo elect members of its 16th Assembly tomorrow, it’s, by all accounts, an over-four-decade-old race between the DMK and the AIADMK though billed as a five-cornered contest showing three more contenders – AMMK-DMDK front (actor- turned-politician Vijayakanth and TTV Dhinakaran of RK Nagar fame, ace actor Kamal Haasan’s MNM front and the sole pro-Tamil proponent Seeman of NTK.
For AIADMK, its Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami,
this is the crucial stage in his political career where he has
to get a voter mandate, an acknowledgement of his
leadership sans charisma (of the late supremo J Jayalalithaa).
Besides, it will be a corroboration of the basic democratic
tenet that even the man in the street, irrespective of his
/her economic, social and political status, can ascend the
throne.
If he wins this election, he will earn the most distinguished
glory of fetching his party second hat-trick after its founder
-leader matinee idol M G Ramachandran (MGR) pulled off
the feat in his times.
So, the glory shines on the horizon, beckoning him and demanding
herculean efforts on his part.
For the DMK, its President M K Stalin, facing a no less a tough
job of proving his leadership credentials without the most popular
drawing card for voters (his father and party patriarch late
M Karunanidhi), this election is the only gateway for him to get
aboard the bus he missed five years back in 2016 by a voter
percentage margin not so wide.
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