Why did Jayalalitha fail?

Sri Lanka Tamil issue got a lot of importance during the last stages of the campaign. Every party went on hunger strike. Karunanidhi was confident about winning based on performance but this Sri Lankan Tamil issue gave him sleepless nights, not because the Tamils were suffering but because Jayalalithaa got media mileage on that issue.

Karunanidhi believed 5 things will save him in this elections:

1. Rs. 1 per kg rice: The scheme he has successfully implemented with the continuous flow of funds centre has made available.

2. Free colour TV sets for 1 Crore families: He has already distributed 60 lakhs sets and tender has been called for 40 lakh more TV sets.

3. The Rs 50 grocery scheme: He has subsidized Rs. 70 worth grocery items and has been successfully supplying every month to all the ration card holders.

4. National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme: When it comes to implementation TN is the second best state after AP. Nearly a crore families in rural areas get 100 days of assured employment with Rs 80/per day wage.

5. And the fifth very important issue DMK relied on is Jayalalithaa. Whenever she comes to power she would cancel all the DMK govt. schemes. People were happy with low cost rice, free TV etc. And by voting for Jayalalithaa these schemes could get scrapped or modified.

Jayalalithaa was known to be an anti-Eelam leader. When she made a dramatic 'U turn' the urban and educated masses were in shock. Since they suspected she was exploiting this issue only for political gains. When thousands of innocent people are being killed by Lankan army, they were indeed angry on her for using this for her personal gains. Voters were confident Jayalalithaa would forget the Eelam Tamils after victory.

Earlier she ditched BJP, toppled Vajpayee government, then made them to believe that she would join hands for this parliament elections, but ditched them to join Third Front. Then came out of Third Front and tried to form alliance with Congress. When they refused, she was back in Third Front.

She ditched Sethu Samudram canal project, though it is she who assured this project in the AIDMK manifesto. Her changing decisions worried many voters.

These factors helped DMK in a big way. The rest is history.