Sunday, September 11 2005 12:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Election fever has gripped political parties in Tamil Nadu, which is scheduled to go to assembly polls in May next year.

The parties, mainly ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam (AIADMK) and opposition Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam (DMK), have started their election work in right earnest with top leaders interacting with party cadres and setting up booth committees.

While AIADMK has divided the state into zones, entrusting the poll management to its election Wing Secretary and State Public Works Department (PWD) Minister O Pannerselvam and its presidium chairman and Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan, DMK has asked its district secretaries to fan out to villages and enthuse party cadres.

AIADMK leaders have instructed party men to stress on 'developmental work' undertaken by the Jayalalithaa Government in the state whereas DMK has asked its workers to highlight the 'non-performance' of the AIADMK Government as main poll plank.

Actor Vijay Kant is making his entry into politics in the polls

However, both parties are keeping their fingers crossed as popular Tamil film actor Vijay Kant is making his entry into politics in the assembly polls. He has already announced that his party, to be floated on September 14 at a conference at Madurai, would not have any truck with other parties and would contest the polls on its own.

The response he has been receiving from the rural masses, AIADMK's vote bank, has surprised many. The hoardings and wall writings put up by his fans clearly indicate his popularity among the people, political observers feel.

Some AIADMK leaders, who refuse to comment openly on Vijaykant's political debut, privately admit his strategy is similar to their late leader M G Ramachandran when he founded AIADMK but which could not cut much ice among the masses.

Vijaykant might end up as a third force in the next polls, they feel.

While AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has said she has an open mind on the alliance issue, DMK led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), which registered a spectacular victory in the last Lok Sabha polls winning all 39 Lok Sabha seats, is so far intact.

DMK President M Karunanidhi, in a bid to strengthen the bond among the party's allies, has been in constant touch with leaders of Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), CPI-M, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the constituents of DPA.

He has been inviting leaders of these parties and others like Tamizhaga Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, slowly emerging as the leading Muslim party in the state, the Yadhava community-based Makkal Tamizh Deasam, floated by former AIADMK Minster S Kannappan and backward Thevar community-based, AIADMK to all DMK conferences held as part of the party's strategy to prepare for the elections.

He has also been meeting party workers in all districts to hear their grievances, perhaps for the first time in DMK's 55-year-old history.