DMK to form exclusive TN government

Chennai: The DMK yesterday returned to power in Tamil Nadu, stunning Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, and vowed to form an exclusively DMK government despite failing to win a majority on its own.

The DMK and its allies, including the Congress, the PMK, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI), had won 159 of the 226 seats where results had been declared. Tamil Nadu has a 234-member house.

A stunned AIADMK suffered a terrible defeat, winning just 66 seats, despite aligning at the eleventh hour with two former partners of the DMK, the MDMK and the Dalit Panthers of India.

A despondent Jayalalitha, the movie star-turned politician, put in her papers and was asked to continue in office until a new government was formed.

She declined to meet reporters after returning to the city quietly from Andipatti in Theni district, about 600km south of Chennai.

As results poured in, the DMK, having won just 92 seats, quickly made it clear that it was not looking at any coalition government and that it wanted to rule the state on its own.

DMK chief M. Karunanidhi said he had already won the support of his allies for a DMK government.

"It is a fantastic victory," he said. "The communist leaders have spoken to us extending support for a DMK government. The PMK is also backing us. Congress leaders will also be meeting us."

Initially, some Congress leaders hinted at a coalition government in Tamil Nadu for the first time. But the idea found no support.

Karunanidhi declared at the party headquarters: "A government will be formed in Tamil Nadu after talks with all the alliance partners."

But the DMK suffered an unexpected setback in Chennai, losing eight out of the 14 seats to AIADMK.

Among the winners were AIADMK ministers D. Jayakumar, S.V. Sekhar, Shekhar Babu and Bader Sayeed.

The DMK alliance performed better than expected even in rural areas, normally considered an AIADMK fortress. It made inroads into traditional AIADMK pockets and won from areas where large numbers of Christians and Muslims live.

Actor Vijaykanth, whose newly formed DMDK created a sensation in its maiden electoral participation, won from Viruthachalam.

N. Nanmaran of the CPI-M won from Madurai East, Congressman C. Gnanasekharan from Vellore, former speaker of the Tamil Nadu assembly P.T.R. Palanivelrajan of DMK won from Madurai Central constituency.

PWD minister and former chief minister O. Panneerselvam (AIADMK) won the Periyakulam seat by 15,057 votes. The AIADMK's S.V. Shanmugham won Madurai West constituency by 3,467 votes.

In Nagapattinam, AIADMK's legislator K.A. Jayapal suffered defeat at the hands of the CPI-M's V. Marimuthu.

RESUME
Muthuvel Karunanidhi

At 82, DMK chief Muthuvel Karunanidhi will be the oldest chief minister in 21st century India when he takes oath tomorrow after outside help from allies.

Karunanidi, who won an assembly seat from the smallest constituency of the state, Chepauk, has been chief minister of Tamil Nadu four times: 1969-71; 1971-74; 1989-91 and 1996-2001.

Born in June 1924, the scholar started his career as a scriptwriter for Tamil films, but his wit and oratory skills made him a popular politician.

He entered public life at the age of 14 and was founder of the first student wing of the Dravidian movement called Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram. When the first DMK chief minister C. Annadurai died in 1969, Karunanidhi became chief minister. He has held the post of party chief since 1969.