Tamil Nadu's Jayalalitha marks year in power

Chennai: A year after she stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha still enjoys wide support, but the number of her critics is also rising.

Reactions on the first anniversary of the return to power of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) vary as Jayalalitha began her second year in office on Wednesday.

Most of the poor seem happy. The government gives 20kg of free rice to the poor and 35kg to the very poor.

Those getting married are given four grams of gold mangalsutra (a necklace symbolising of Hindu marriage union worn by women) aside from Rs25,000 (Dh1,688).

The pension for the elderly, destitute, widows and differently-abled women has been doubled to Rs1,000. Compensation to fishermen affected by a 45-day fishing ban was also increased.

Other election promises like free laptops for students, free mixers or grinders, fans and induction stoves, free sanitary napkins for women in rural areas, free cattle and other schemes have been fulfilled.

Rekindled hopes

"The free cattle scheme has benefited sections of the rural people and kindled the hopes of millions. It is a good scheme," D. Pandian, leader of the Communist Party of India, told IANS.

The middle class is, however, upset that bus fares and milk prices and power rates have gone up. "My power bill has doubled and it is pinching. We are now reducing our power consumption," R. Raghunathan, a retired private sector employee, told IANS. Power cuts are rampant.

The chief minister's controversial stand of asking the central government to stop all construction at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) effectively delayed the project by six months.

After initially backing local protests against the project, Jayalalitha gave the green light in March this year. The Vision 2023 document released by Jayalalitha has set a target of making Tamil Nadu one of the top three investment destinations in Asia by 2023.

According to CPI's Pandian, the Jayalalitha government's stands on issues like the Mullaperiyar dam row with Kerala and the situation in Sri Lanka gained the support of all political parties.

The chief minister also wants the death penalty given to three people from Tamil Nadu who were impleaded in the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to be commuted into life imprisonment.

Politically, however, Jayayalithaa is a virtual loner for upset electoral allies by going against the DMDK or the National Progressive Dravidian Federation. "The AIADMK thinks it has gained strength and does not need others," Pandian said.