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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09: MARCH 24 SOUTHERN SNAPSHOTS, VOLUME 2 
 
REF:  Chennai 59 
 
¶1. (U) This report is the second in a periodic series of 
election-related items in South India that highlight important 
information not featured in our other reporting.  This edition of 
"Southern Snapshots" covers: 
 
-- Tamil Nadu:  BJP searching in vain for alliance partners in Tamil 
Nadu 
-- Tamil Nadu:  Sri Lankan Tamils are the issue for MDMK 
-- Tamil Nadu:  Lawyers call off court boycott 
 
-- Karnataka:   Congress kicks off national campaign in Karnataka 
-- Karnataka:  Third Front launches campaign in Karnataka 
-- Andhra Pradesh:  Election Commission enforces Model Code of 
Conduct 
 
Tamil Nadu:  BJP searching mostly in vain for alliance partners 
------------ 
 
¶1. (U) Although a major player in most of India's states, the 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to be largely shut out of 
Tamil Nadu's politics.  After drawing little interest from Tamil 
Nadu's two major parties -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and 
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) -- the BJP is 
trying to work out an alliance with several smaller parties in the 
state, including the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and 
Akila India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK), but there are few 
positive indications from the these parties, either.  The president 
of the BJP's Tamil Nadu chapter told the press that his party had 
held "informal talks" with the AISMK, which had "expressed its 
willingness" to join forces.  He also said that the BJP had 
contacted the DMDK, which he said planned to "keep its options 
open," noting that the BJP would be a "natural ally" to both 
parties.  (The DMDK has since announced that it will join no formal 
alliances in the state.)  Media reports suggest that the BJP is also 
keen on working with the caste-based Akhila Indiya Naadalum Makka 
Katchi (AINMK), a marginal player in Tamil Nadu politics that has 
yet to respond to the BJP's overtures. 
 
Tamil Nadu:  Sri Lankan Tamils unsurprisingly the issue for MDMK 
------------ 
 
¶2. (U) Citing what he viewed as the UPA government's "betrayal" and 
the DMK government's "inaction" in stopping violence against Sri 
Lanka's Tamils, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) 
general secretary Vaiko announced that the plight of Tamils in Sri 
Lanka will be the main issue for his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha 
elections.   He did not rule out the possibility of post-election 
alliances with either the BJP or the Third Front parties, all of 
which oppose the current Congress-led UPA government. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Comment:  Vaiko, an ardent supporter of the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has long tried to influence Tamil Nadu 
voters to support the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.  The 1991 
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE turned local opinion 
against the Tigers, limiting Vaiko's ability to turn the issue into 
a base for political support.  The increasingly dire situation of 
Tamil civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's civil war, however, has led 
nearly all of Tamil Nadu's parties -- including the AIADMK, the 
principal opposition party -- to make the plight of Sri Lanka's 
Tamils something of a cause celebre (see reftel).  This has raised 
the hopes of Vaiko and his supporters that the Lok Sahba elections 
will bring the Sri Lankan issue back to the political forefront in 
Tamil Nadu, to his party's benefit. 
 
Tamil Nadu:  Lawyers call off court boycott 
------------ 
 
¶4. (U) On March 19, Tamil Nadu lawyers called off a two-month 
boycott of the courts and announced their return to work.  What 
started off on January 30 as a strike in support of the Sri Lankan 
Tamils turned into a tense standoff that featured violent clashes 
between the lawyers and the police.  The strike also pitted the 
lawyers against Tamil Nadu's government, and totally paralyzed the 
state's courts for nearly seven weeks. 
 
¶5. (U) The confrontation took a particularly nasty turn on February 
19 when the police attempted to arrest lawyers accused of assault on 
 
CHENNAI 00000086  002 OF 003 
 
 
an anti-LTTE political leader from Tamil Nadu on the premises of the 
state's High Court in Chennai.  A group of lawyers began throwing 
rocks at the police, prompting the police to surge into the High 
Court premises.  They beat up numerous lawyers with their police 
batons (lathis) in full view of reporters' cameras and the High 
Court's judges.  Several judges were also caught up in the melee. 
For their part, the lawyers burned down a police station located 
inside the High Court compound.  A one-man commission headed by 
retired Supreme Court judge, Srikrishna, blamed both sides, but 
upheld most of the police's allegations in his interim report.  The 
lawyers rejected the commission's findings and continued the court 
boycott, greatly inconveniencing thousands of individuals with cases 
before the Court. 
 
¶6. (U) A breakthrough finally came on March 18, when the High Court 
directed the State Government to suspend two senior police officers 
who were in command at the time of the incident.   The court also 
said that the advocates had no right to strike and urged them to 
return to the courts. 
 
Karnataka:  Congress kicks off national campaign in Karnataka 
------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) Sonia Gandhi kicked off the Congress Party's Lok Sabha 
campaign in Devangere, central Karnataka on March 23.  The Karnataka 
kickoff for Congress's national campaign is intended to be something 
of a good-luck charm.  Roshen Baig, an aspirant for a Congress 
candidacy and current member of the Karnataka's Legislative 
Assembly, told us that in prior elections Congress returned to power 
every time its campaign started in Karnataka.  Baig and others told 
us that such geographical luck was not the only factor taken into 
consideration, noting that the date of the kickoff was changed from 
March 21 to take advantage of a more astrologically auspicious day. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Manjunath Bhandary, a Karnataka-based member of the 
Congress Party's leadership, told us that the party expected to do 
well, despite some media predictions to the contrary.  Bhandary 
opined that Congress would have a tacit understanding with the 
regional Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) party, which would ensure that 
Congress increased its tally of seats (it received 8 seats in the 
last election), although he emphasized that alliance details were 
still being worked out. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Speaking to us after the event, Bhandary said that the 
kickoff was well-attended, but something of a "damp squib," rather 
than a raucous celebration.   He noted that Sonia spoke in Hindi 
without the benefit of a translator so that most of the crowd was 
unable to understand most of what she said. 
 
Karnataka:  Third Front launches campaign in Karnataka 
------------ 
 
¶10.  (U) Representatives of ten regional and ideologically fringe 
parties from across India held a rally in Tumkur, 60 kilometers 
northwest of Bangalore on March 12th to launch a "Third Front" as an 
alternative to Congress and BJP in the upcoming elections.  Members 
of the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) from Karnataka, Communist Party of 
India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the 
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the Forward Bloc from West 
Bengal, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from Andhra Pradesh, the AIADMK 
from Tamil Nadu, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) from Andhra 
Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Haryana Janhit Congress 
attended the rally.  CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat declared 
to the crowd:  "This is a historic get-together of all the 
democratic, secular and Left parties to declare that we are all 
coming together to constitute a third force in this country." 
 
Andhra Pradesh:  Election Commission enforces Model Code of Conduct 
 
------------ 
 
¶11.  (U) In a sign of its seriousness about its enforcement of the 
Model Code of Conduct, the Election Commission directed the Andhra 
Pradesh government to immediately shift Director General of Police 
¶S. S. P. Yadav to a non-election related post because of remarks the 
officer made during a speech.  The Election Commission's directive 
came after reports in the media and complaints from opposition 
parties indicated that Director General Yadav publicly praised the 
 
CHENNAI 00000086  003 OF 003 
 
 
state's chief minister, in violation of the Election Commission's 
Model Code of Conduct. 
 
SIMKIN