Jayalalitha Jayaram
State Assembly will have a stronger Opposition this time
?????????????????????????? By Siva Sivapragasam
Proving the exit poll results wrong, current Chief Minister and onetime Bollywood???s glamour queen Jayalalitha Jayaram???s AIADMK has taken an early lead and appeared likely to retain power in India???s largest state Tamil Nadu, as the results of the counting of votes cast in the elections to 234-member assembly began pouring in.
Dressed in her traditional green saree and sporting a victory smile from her Poes Garden residence with her two leaf party image on her fingers Jayalalitha thanked the people of Tamil Nadu for guiding her party towards victory and vowed to work with a new found energy for the welfare of people of Tamil Nadu.
Early vote counting trends showed the AIADMK-led alliance is leading in over 125 constituencies at the time of writing this article.
Already AIADMK party cadres were in the celebration mood at the party headquarters in Chennai.
Most of the opinion and exit polls had predicted the DMK to win the elections.
Muthuvel Karunanithi
The AIADMK fielded 227 candidates, leaving seven seats for its allies. But all of them contested with the AIADMK symbol of two leaves.
Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is leading in Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency.
The DMK-led alliance is leading in 77 seats
Poised for a successive term in office with her party establishing clear leads in over 125 seats, Jayalalitha remarked that her party had managed the ???historic??? win despite absence of an alliance and hailed people???s faith in her.
???I am overwhelmed by the resounding victory the people of Tamil Nadu have given us. My party and I are indebted to the people of Tamil Nadu for giving this historic victory,??? a beaming Ms. Jayalalithaa said even as hundreds of supporters swarmed her house.??? Therefore, (we are) indebted to people for this tremendous victory,??? she said.
The 68-year-old actor-turned-politician said she had no interest in her life other than serving people and that her life was ???dedicated to them.??? She also promised to fulfill all promises made in the manifesto. Jayalalithaa also accepted bunches of colourful flower bouquets from the visitors to her Poes Garden residence.
But Jayalalitha will face a stronger Opposition this time with DMK getting more seats. However, DMK???s popularity hangs on it???s veteran leader ninety three year old Muthuvel Karunanithi. At ninety-three, death is certainly knocking at his Gopalapuram residence door.
But when it will happen, nobody can predict.
