DMK Stops Modi Juggernaut From Rolling Into Tamil Nadu

But with party not cutting through in bypolls, change in govt. is unlikely

- B. Kolappan

The DMK’s well-oiled campaign machinery, led by party president M.K. Stalin, on Thursday succeeded in stopping the Modi juggernaut from rolling into Tamil Nadu by mobilising votes with a focus on core issues such as demonetisation, NEET and the Centre’s alleged neglect of the State on various counts. In the process, the DMK slowed the BJP surge that swept the nation in the Parliamentary election. The party, however, did not taste equal success in the Assembly bypolls, putting paid to its plans of forcing a change in government.

The DMK also helped the Congress win eight of the nine seats it contested in the State, thereby boosting its national tally. Congress candidate H. Vasanthakumar unseated the BJP’s Pon. Radhakrishnan, the lone Union Minister from Tamil Nadu, in the Kanyakumari constituency.