On the morning of the first anniversary of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death, came news that the verdict in the 2G case will be pronounced on the 21st of December. This date, coincidentally, is also the date of by-elections for the RK Nagar Assembly constituency, a seat which was held by Jayalalithaa till the time she died.
In a way, the 21st will seal Amma’s legacy both within the AIADMK and in its fiercest rival, the other principal Dravidian party, the DMK. The long awaited 2G verdict will be pronounced in the chambers of trial judge OP Saini at the Patiala House courts at 10.30 am. One would dare say that not too many voters in RK Nagar, other than the faithful, would want to venture out and cast their franchise before the verdict is out.
If the verdict were to implicate both former Telecom Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi’s daughter, MP Kanimozhi, this could be a body blow to the DMK’s chances in the RK Nagar bypoll. The DMK’s candidate is Maruthu Ganesh, a local who would be the natural beneficiary of widespread anti-incumbency against the AIADMK. Yet at the same time, if the 2G verdict goes against the DMK then that would hamper Ganesh’s chances, perhaps irreparably.
The official candidate of the unified AIADMK is N Madhusudhanan, the former Presidium Chairman of the AIADMK. An old hand, Madhusudhanan is now expected to be the frontrunner, especially after the Election Commission gave the two leaves symbol to the EPS-OPS camp. But Madhusudhanan needs to worry about a two way undercutting of votes. He will face a challenge from the rebel AIADMK candidate TTV Dinakaran who has much more name and face recall among the voters. He will also have to contend with a new challenger in the form of popular actor and Nadigar Sangam General Secretary Vishal who is extremely popular and also is a Telugu Naidu, the same community that Madhusudhanan hails from.
Amid all this, the biggest issue facing the people of RK Nagar is the immense water shortage, even when we are at least four months away from proper summer. Jayalalithaa had made rain water harvesting compulsory during her second term in the early 2000s. But that is clearly not helping. Ironically, this constituency also shot to infamy due to the severe floods in 2015, when despite being a VVIP constituency, people were left to fend for themselves.
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