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In an eventful 2006, Tamil Nadu saw the grand old man of politics and DMK chief M Karunanidhi returning as Chief Minister for the fifth time at the age of 84, after his party-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) achieved a resounding victory in the May 8, 2006, Assembly elections.
It was also for the first time that the people of the state denied any political party an absolute majority and the DMK formed a minority government with outside support from its allies the Congress, PMK and Left parties.
The year began with MDMK chief Vaiko, for whose release from POTA detention Karunanidhi fought, switching over to AIADMK-led alliance, giving the then ruling party a much sought after ally.
Vaiko left the DPA on the day of DMK's pre-poll state-level conference at Tiruchirappalli, on March 4, 2006, where he was supposed to be one of the major speakers. The MDMK chief accused DMK of adopting a "big brotherly" attitude.
With the MDMK gone, the DMK got a free hand to provide more number of seats to its other allies.
In the May 8 Assembly polls, people reinforced their faith in the DMK-led DPA in the state as they had done to constituents of the UPA at the Centre by giving them all the 39 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu in 2004.
The acrimonious run-up to the Assembly elections saw the DMK and AIADMK offering various sops like free colour television sets, rice at Rs 2 a kg, two acres of land to the landless, free rice of 10 kg to ration card holders and gold for
'mangalsutra'.
The DMK promised CTVs, rice at Rs 2 per kg and free land. After realising that the DMK's promises had caught the fancy of the people, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa too announced 10 kg of rice free of cost, two litres of kerosene free and gold for
mangalsutra.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who campaigned for the DPA, described the DMK's manifesto as the 'hero of the 2006 elections'.
Vaiko, leading the campaign for the AIADMK, attacked members of Karunanidhi's family, alleging they had amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Though the DMK formed a minority government with outside support from its allies, it had to pay a price as allies like the PMK had compelled the government to give up its decisions like setting up of a satellite town near Chennai. (Agencies)
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