JAYA's WISH UNFULLFILLED

Despite having secured a massive win in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's dream of carving a role for herself at the national scene has virtually failed to fructify. In the run-up to the polls, she had unleashed an untiring campaign, asking people to give her majority of seats and propel her to the national scene and even her supporters dreamt of seeing her as Prime Minister. The people of Tamil Nadu whole-heartedly obliged her, but with BJP scoring a comfortable majority in the 16th Lok Sabha, Jayalalithaa would only stand to see her party votes not making much of a difference for her and also to AIADMK, which also has the distinction of emerging as the third largest group in the new Parliament. Even after winning 15 seats and leads in 22 others of the total 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, handing out an ignominious defeat to DMK, Congress and the BJP-led alliance, the Jayalalithaa- led party, which has been nurturing national aspirations is left only with a consolation prize of 'winner' badge in Tamil Nadu and would not be part of a grand celebration in Delhi. In a candid admission, Jayalalithaa said, "There is no such situation now," while responding to a query on what role she envisaged for her party in the next government. AIADMK, which handed its arch rival DMK a humiliating defeat in the 2011 Assembly polls, has grown in vote percentage of around 44 per cent by defeating all political rivals in the state. Jayalalithaa had even dumped her long-term allies Left parties during the initial days of her campaigning, eyeing securing of more seats for her party. BJP, which has made a sweeping win at the national level has failed to break open the regional party's bastion of Tamil Nadu with only its state president maintaining lead by over a lakh votes margin in the southern state.