NEW DELHI: If there is one factor that has cast its shadow on the ongoing round of assembly elections, it is the 2G scam. The scam, which robbed UPA-II of its sheen, has emerged as the most important electoral plank in Tamil Nadu and the underlying theme of corruption has come into play in other poll-bound states too.
As polling ended in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, corruption shot to the top of the list of talking-points and it would have a bearing on the outcome of the elections to the four state assemblies and Union Territory of Puducherry.
In Tamil Nadu, the 2G spectrum allocation scam has been giving sleepless nights to the DMK leadership. With the investigations into the scam reaching the doorsteps of party czar M Karunanidhi's family, the alliance led by DMK is fighting with its back to the wall to retain its turf. The facts that Jayalalithaa has managed to cobble together a more formidable alliance and the Election Commission has managed to curb the role of money-power have combined to give the AIADMK-led coalition an edge.
While corruption, as manifest by the 2G scam, is threatening to derail the DMK-led coalition's plans to retain power in the state, in neighbouring Kerala, interestingly enough, it has come in handy for Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan to neutralise some of the anti-incumbency anger directed at his government. Political observers agree that the Left Democratic Front has bounced back into the reckoning. In a state which sees a change in guard every five years, the ruling CPM-led Front has managed to bridge some deficit, even though there are still serious doubts whether it would eventually be able to buck the trend.
When the campaigning for the election to the Kerala assembly began, it looked like a one-sided affair, which political observers predicting a cakewalk for the Congress-led UDF .
Achuthanandan's report-card in his first innings in power was dismal, and CPM's state unit was split down the middle. But as campaign-fever reached a crescendo, the chief minister had, by projecting himself as an anti-corruption crusader, succeeded in bringing LDF back into the fray. The youth, whose aspirations had not been fulfilled in the past five years, were seen to be rallying behind the 87-year-old Achuthanandan.
The Congress did not get the anticipated response from the electorate as its strategists failed to read the popular mind. Its game-plan of targeting LDF's biggest vote-catcher appeared to have recoiled, making it clear that the party had refused to learn lessons from its follies in Gujarat and Bihar.
In faraway Assam, it was RTI activist Akhil Gogoi's anti-corruption zeal which managed to blunt Congress' comeback plans. Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti Assam (KMSSA), the organisation formed by him, has been engaged in sustained campaign to expose corruption of the Tarun Gogoi government , and has elicited tremendous response from the people.
In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has sought to use the issue to turn the tables on the ruling Left Front.
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