Government, Opposition likely to be on even keel

Even a day before the first session of the 15th Assembly began, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa displayed a friendly gesture by expressing concern over confusion regarding the seat allotment to DMK treasurer MK Stalin at the swearing-in function on May 23. Further in a statement issued on May 24, the Chief Minister said that she would like to work in cooperation with the Opposition party. 

With a strong Opposition in place inside the House, every issue is expected to see much debate before the members take a decision. Thus, divergent and intelligent views of members elected from various parts of the state touching every minute aspect are set to make every scheme and initiative of the government a perfect one this time. 

Further, getting a common ground on several serious issues will be a fair play as the focus will be only on two major parties. Unlike in the past, when several parties were in the house being divided in their stand on many inter-state and nation level issues, it will be just between the government and the Opposition. 

Except Congress, which too has only a strength of less than 10, all others are fringe parties. In such a situation, all decisions are most likely to be between the two Dravidian majors.

“The House witnessed similar composition in the past too in 1980 and 2006. Many a times there used to be healthy debate on several issues concerning the state thus resulting in an effective demonstration of democracy. This time too there will be such discussions on a host of topics,” says Subramanian Ganesan, a political analyst, who is 65 now. 

“Besides these, when it comes to protecting or promoting the interests of Tamil Nadu people on several social issues like Cauvery imbroglio, Mullaiperiyar dispute, nod for jallikattu and so on, the state government will need active support of the Opposition DMK. Hopefully, since the issues pertain to the whole of the state, both the ruling and opposition parties will have to be on the same page. This will benefit the state in a big way,” observes Tirunavukkarasu, a Left party cadre from Madurai.

Murali, a national party member, expressing a different view of the House, says, “though some pollsters talked about a hung assembly, Tamil Nadu voters have once again proved that they will never get confused and always give clear verdict to only one party. Had it been otherwise, the rulers would have been forced to be keen on saving the government rather than concentrating on development of the state.” 

“On the whole, good days are ahead for the state because of the perfect balance in the number of MLAs elected to the Assembly.”