For the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, the year 2015 was a mixed bag marked by its supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalitha’s legal victory as well as her government facing national disaster towards the end.
Jayalalitha scored a huge win when she came out unscathed from the disproportionate asset case which not only threatened her chief minister-ship and leadership of the party, but also threatened her undulating political career.
As her partymen heaved a sigh of relief and hit the streets celebrating their leader’s victory in the court case, Jayalalitha added one more feather to her cap when she effortlessly won the R K Nagar Assembly by poll held in June by a huge margin.
Firmly in the saddle having cleared all the hurdles, Jayalalitha resumed the administrative function with a gusto.
A short duration of Assembly session followed and later the state under her leadership successfully hosted the Global Investors Meet (GIM) that attracted more than two lakh crore rupees.
Terming this as historic, the Tamil Nadu government started its work on ensuring the investment into a reality, unexpectedly towards the end of the year when weather god played a crucial trick unleashing the heaviest rainfall, battering state’s infrastructure.
The AIADMK government was unfortunately found wanting in many aspects of disaster mitigation, drawing flak from various political parties that took advantage of the situation and try to derive political mileage out of it.
The unusual weather phenomenon also had its impact on the political firmament bringing together diverge political parties such as Vaiko-led MDMK, CPM, CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).
This also had a twist when these parties under the banner of People’s Welfare Front (PWF), a third front, extended invitation to DMDK’s Vijayakanth and former Union minister G K Vasan, who quit Congress and formed his own Tamil Maanila Congress, to bolster electoral prospects during the assured election.
However, leaving no stone unturned to re-capture the power, the ruling AIADMK also announced a total revamp of the party apparatus by appointing booth canvasser to reach out the about six crore electorate spread across more than 10,000 polling booths, ahead of Assembly elections due in five months.
Meanwhile, the BJP is very keen to get the support of the AIADMK after its party senior national leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely met Jayalalitha recently.
