DMDK-led third front draws a blank, Vijayakanth defeated

“Until the previous night, there were no confusion, no sign that he would do that. We all got to know of his decision through the media. The public didn’t believe the reasons he gave. The coalition’s morale suffered,” said a senior CPM leader, adding that Vaiko had chickened out because he knew he would lose.

Many of the PWF candidates, mostly from middle class or lower middle class backgrounds, had sold their properties to contest the election. Massive crowds at the initial rallies gave the impression of a momentum in favour of the third front.

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A senior CPI functionary said the third front lost its credibility when they roped in Vijayakanth and Vasan. “We underestimated people. They are not fools to trust two parties who landed in our camp after exhausting all other options. Everyone knew that Vijayakanth was negotiating with BJP and DMK until the last moment. They have also seen G K Vasan (TMC) waiting outside Poes Garden for several days and joining us after Jayalalithaa denied him a seat. Eventually, we lost our credibility as Vijayakanth’s rally videos turned into comic videos,” he said.

“Vasan too did nothing good for the alliance. The only thing this alliance had was its credibility but in an effort to get more allies, we lost that too,” he said, adding that the PWF alliance would continue as an alternative in the coming years.

The alliance was also hobbled by its unrealistic promises — including complete prohibition and foreign junkets to farmers — and shortage of funds. In constituencies where DMK and AIADMK candidates had spent Rs 4-10 crore, the maximum budget for many PWF candidates was Rs 40 lakh.

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So in the first week of May, as rival candidates spent crores purchasing vehicles and furniture for booth-level leaders, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan was struggling to get funds to set up his election committee office.

The same was the case of the PMK too. The party that contested alone in all the 234 seats was wiped out. What the PMK leadership later realised was that almost half their candidates did not campaign, blaming it on shortage of funds. Anbumani Ramadoss, the party’s CM candidate, was himself defeated from Pennagaram.