Friday, April 1, 2011

Spectrum scam is Jayalalithaa's return ticket in Tamil Nadu: Opinion poll


Piggybacking on corruption and price rise issues, the Amma of Poes Garden will ride back to power in Tamil Nadu in the ensuing assembly elections. The grand alliance, stitched together byAIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa, is expected to bag 164 out of 234 seats and send chief minister M. Karunanidhi's DMK-led coalition packing.
These are the findings of the Mail Today-India Today-Headlines Today-Aaj Tak-ORG opinion poll. According to the survey, the AIADMK alliance - which has the CPM, CPI and DMDK as its members - will get 50 per cent of the total votes polled. The poll shows there is a decisive distance of 5 per cent votes between Amma's alliance and the DMK-led coalition.
The projection for the DMK alliance stands at 68. It's a near complete reversal from 2006, when the AIADMK had managed 69 seats, while the DMK combine had bagged 163. The result clearly goes to show how Jayalalithaa has understood the virtues of stitching the right coalition to maximise electoral gains.
Unsurprisingly, graft - particularly the 2G spectrum allocation mega scam - is likely to be the thorn in the DMK's side. As many as 50.5 per cent voters believe corruption is a significant issue in these elections. When asked whether they understand the 2G scam involving DMK leader A. Raja, 50.5 per cent respondents have said they are aware of it.
Price rise is the main issue for a big 59.3 per cent chunk of the respondents. Over 43 per cent of the voters have highlighted basic necessities such as electricity, roads and water as a crucial deciding factor. Unemployment, too, will impact the decision of 37.5 per cent of the electorate. The majority of
the people are also unhappy with the way the DMK has handled the killing of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.

The survey predicts that the DMK alliance - which also includes the Congress, PMK, VCK and IUML - will get a vote share of 45 per cent.
In another interesting result, 39.3 per cent of the respondents feel the DMK patriarch is more corrupt than Amma. When asked if they will favour a change of guard in the state, almost 51 per cent have responded in the affirmative.
While 36.1 per cent of the voters back Opposition leader Jayalalithaa as the next CM, 34.1 per cent favour the continuation of Karunanidhi.
Though Karunanidhi wants his son and deputy CM M.K. Stalin as his successor, only 3.5% of the respondents want the latter to be assigned the top post. Just 24 respondents (0.6 per cent) want Union home minister P. Chidambaram as their next CM.
Film star Vijaykant's DMDK, which contested the 2006 assembly polls and 2009 Lok Sabha elections alone, will get the vote of 11.3 per cent respondents.
Just 1.3 per cent of the electorate would have voted for the MDMK, which has decided not to contest following differences with the AIADMK.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/133975/top-stories/spectrum-scam-is-jayalalithaas-return-ticket-in-tamil-nadu-opinion-poll.html

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