 "Campaigning concludes in TN")
The curtains came down on the more than a month-long mercury-rising campaign for the April 24 Lok Sabha elections, as the stage is set for polling which will decide the fate of over 800 candidates from AIADMK, DMK, BJP, Congress and DMDK besides others.
The high-decibel vote canvassing exercise was dominated by a series of barbs, charges and counter-charges as arch rivals DMK and AIADMK are eyeing the results as a self assessment exercise ahead of assembly polls, just two years away.
Top leaders across the political spectrum -- Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, L K Advani, Prakash Karat, J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin among others criss-crossed the roads and airspace of Tamil Nadu, lighting up the electoral battle that is poised for a close finish due to a five-cornered contest.
If at all there could be an undercurrent of the intense campaign, it was Modi-bashing by all those not part of the BJP-led NDA, a new trend that was not as much visible in the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections.
The Gujarat Chief Minister himself addressed a series of rallies in anticipation of his party-led NDA returning a significant number of seats.
Jayalalithaa, nurturing larger national ambitions, stole a march over her rivals by not only announcing her candidates ahead of others, but also hit the campaign trail much earlier to give her enough room to cover almost all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.
Initially modelling her campaign strategy on an out-and-out 'fire Congress and DMK' strategy, Jayalalitha later trained her guns on BJP also, following accusations that her AIADMK was the 'B-Team' of the saffron party.
From a no-mention to a no-holds barred electoral fight, Jayalalithaa wound up her campaign by putting herself ahead of BJP's Modi, who dwells on his Gujarat development claims, seen as a marked turnaround as both the leaders had good personal equations having attended the swearing-in ceremonies of each other in the past.
The high-decibel vote canvassing exercise was dominated by a series of barbs, charges and counter-charges as arch rivals DMK and AIADMK are eyeing the results as a self assessment exercise ahead of assembly polls, just two years away.
Top leaders across the political spectrum -- Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, L K Advani, Prakash Karat, J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin among others criss-crossed the roads and airspace of Tamil Nadu, lighting up the electoral battle that is poised for a close finish due to a five-cornered contest.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has maintained a low profile during this polls, avoided campaigning in Tamil Nadu where Congress is facing the polls on its own.
If at all there could be an undercurrent of the intense campaign, it was Modi-bashing by all those not part of the BJP-led NDA, a new trend that was not as much visible in the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections.
The Gujarat Chief Minister himself addressed a series of rallies in anticipation of his party-led NDA returning a significant number of seats.
Jayalalithaa, nurturing larger national ambitions, stole a march over her rivals by not only announcing her candidates ahead of others, but also hit the campaign trail much earlier to give her enough room to cover almost all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.
Initially modelling her campaign strategy on an out-and-out 'fire Congress and DMK' strategy, Jayalalitha later trained her guns on BJP also, following accusations that her AIADMK was the 'B-Team' of the saffron party.
From a no-mention to a no-holds barred electoral fight, Jayalalithaa wound up her campaign by putting herself ahead of BJP's Modi, who dwells on his Gujarat development claims, seen as a marked turnaround as both the leaders had good personal equations having attended the swearing-in ceremonies of each other in the past.