Recently with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, MK Stalin has come into his own, emerging out of his father and the late DMK patriarch Kalaignar M Karunanidhi’s long shadow. Meanwhile he has singly withstood both the ruling BJP and the AIADMK, almost sweeping the state in the parliamentary elections. Furthermore in more concentrated contests, the 22 bye-polls for the Tamilnadu Assembly, the DMK’s performance was stymied by the ruling party’s might in power.
Hence despite this, Stalin stands out as the tallest regional leader who stopped the BJP juggernaut from setting foot in Tamilnadu and thanks to jayalalithaa who posed “modi or this lady?” then, the BJP could win albeit a single seat in the 2014 elections in Tamilnadu. Its ally, the PMK, also won a single seat then. Hence the BJP has drawn a blank in the state. One should not forget that jayalalitha had the luxury of power.
Moreover in the absence of his father and Jayalalitha, both titans, the electoral arena was bereft of a leader of their size. Further he was the only leader of his stature to do this routinely in this campaign and his palms must have been sore, but Stalin did not show it. Instead, he said he was moved by this show of affection.
