In the midst of the the most violent local body elections to date in Tamil Nadu, the flying visit to Chennai by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, to attend the marriage of the son of BJP President, Jana Krishnamurthy, last week was almost ignored.

Except for the protocol officers and Governor Rangarajan, few other dignitaries were present at Chennai airport to welcome the two leaders when they flew in late on Wednesday night.

The only other sign of the visit – described as private – was the brief spell of traffic disruption when the two Central leaders drove to the venue of the wedding on Thursday morning and then on to the airport to emplane for their return journey.

One reason for the cold treatment was obviously the fact that relations between Jayalalithaa, the leader of the AIADMK, and the BJP are none too cordial and, secondly, October 18 was the second phase of the local body elections.

The DMK, which heads the NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu, has strongly criticised what it describes as the rigging of the polls by the AIADMK, often resorting to violence in the process.

The situation is so bad that DMK President Karunanidhi has threatened that his party will have no other alternative but to launch agitations in the face of attacks by the police and ruling partymen.

The DMK had no option but to sacrifice themselves "in the battle for Dharma (justice)", he said. He also accused the government officials of conniving with the ruling party.
Repoll

A DMK delegation last week met Rangarajan to seek his intervention to order repolling in some of the constituencies which went to the polls last Tuesday.

In reply to a question from the media, Vajpayee on Thursday incidentally said that "if all the complaints are genuine, action must be taken".

The violence in the local polls on October 16 and 18 are unparalleled. The whole AIADMK machinery appeared to be geared to winning a large chunk of seats at different levels by hook or by crook.

There are charges of fake ballot papers having been inserted into boxes stamped in favour of the ruling party. Threats and bribery were also rampant. State Finance Minister Ponnaiyyan, however, declared that the DMK was grumbling because the TN people were out to provide a "right verdict" in favour of the AIADMK.

AIADMK sources are optimistic that the party will secure at least 60 per cent of the seats.

Apart from the election itself, the aim seems to be to prove that the AIADMK is more popular "in the people's court" in comparison with the DMK.

The State Election Commission has stated that the polling was satisfactory despite the repolling ordered in some areas. The results will be declared on October 22.

Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa also appeared to be coming out of a bad spell – so far as the judiciary is concerned – after the Supreme Court verdict against her appointment as chief minister.

Last week, before going into its Dasera recess, the Madras High Court bench hearing Jayalalithaa's appeals in the TANSI cases hauled the Special Public Prosecutor, K.V. Venkatapathy, over the coals on Wednesday.

Judge Dinakar said that the investigating agencies had thrown to the winds the provisions of the Evidence Act and that the Special Court judge who had initially convicted Jayalalithaa and sentenced her had "misdirected himself" too much.

Venkatapathy was frequently at a loss to give answers to the judge. Venkatapathy, it may be remembered, was specially appointed by the former Madras High Court Chief Justice, N.K. Jain.

Will Jayalalithaa be exonerated by the High Court? Will she be able to fight her way to the top again, freed from legalistic chains and shorn of the electoral disqualification imposed on her because of the convictions by the Special Courts in corruption cases and because of the sentences for more than two years in those cases? If the High Court exonerates her, Jayalalithaa can live to fight another day.

Her proxy Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam, categorically says that he is just keeping the seat warm for her.

Another south Indian chief minister has not been so lucky. P. Shanmugham, Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Pondicherry, resigned on Thursday paving the way for his Public Works Minister N. Rengaswami to become the new chief minister.

Shanmugham was not a member of the Pondicherry legislative Assembly when he took over as chief minister on May 24 this year. A person who is not elected can become a chief minister, provided he gets elected within six months.

However, Shanmugham had to resign as no party legislator was willing to give up his seat for him so that he could be elected before the six-month period ends.