The DMK countered the AIADMK's poll promise of five lakh IT jobs with populist offers including free colour TVs to all houses which do not have them.
CHENNAI: A sense of urban-rural divide could well creep into the pre-poll mood in Tamil Nadu as the DMK came out with its election manifesto on Wednesday, a day after the AIADMK released its piece of magna carta of promises.
The DMK countered the AIADMK's poll promise of five lakh IT jobs with some straight and simple populist offers including free colour televisions to all houses which do not have TV sets. Free distribution of gas stoves to poor women, monthly maternity allowance of Rs 1,000 for six months to poor women, PDS rice at Rs 2 per kg and expansion of free power distribution to farmers are the other highlights of the DMK manifesto.
Sensing AIADMK general secretary and chief minister Jayalalithaa's growing public image of an urbane administrator steadily on the post-liberalisation path, DMK president is trying to play to the rural galleries. For the DMK, the promise of Rs 2 per kg rice scheme is a virtual return to the 1967 elections. "Rupaikku moonu paadi arasi" (three measures of rice for just one rupee) was Anna Durai's election slogan when the country was facing a severe scarcity of food grains. The DMK came to power - for the first time - but could not keep the promise then.
Realising that many of the self help groups (SHGs) are favourably disposed towards the government, the DMK manifesto promises reinstatement of SHG members' daily allowance from Rs 7.50 to Rs 45 and promises SHGs for unemployed youth. It also promises a state legislation for separate reservation for Muslims and Christians.
"With the manifesto which gives the DMK a strong pro-poor and pro-rural image, Karunanidhi has taken Jayalalithaa by surprise," says a veteran politician of the MGR times. "So much so that Jayalalithaa may think of even including more rural-centric measures in her manifesto."
While the AIADMK has attempted to cajole the government employees with some marginal benefits just before the announcement of polls, the DMK will try to remind the section of the bitter times in 2003 when Jayalalithaa ordered the dismissal of more than two lakh striking employees. The DMK's promise to make good for their monetary losses during the strike days and repealing of the Tamil Nadu Emergency Services Act (TESMA) are indications in that direction.
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