by la ganesanthe dmks first electoral success in tamil nadu in the assembly elections of 1967 was not just the result of an anticongress sentiment prevailing in the state for large sections of the middle and the upper middle class were not in favour of the dravidian party which they saw as divisive and secessionist it was the unqualified support by c rajagopalachari during the elections that enabled the dmk to come to power his efforts galvanised various sections of society into electing a noncongress governmentonce in power the dmk dropped the secessionist position with which it had attracted votes on a small scale and sedition charges on a large scale it reflected a mellowing of the partys stridency on policy issues faced with the reality of being in power besides the dmk had powerful and eloquent speakers in tamil who helped widen its support base the partys clever use of the medium of cinema helped its popularity growfrom the beginning the muslims in tamil nadu have backed the dmk in large numbers even now muslims believe the dmk will safeguard their interests and support the party over any other in tamil nadu so much so that they would prefer to vote for a hindu candidate fielded by the dmk rather than a muslim put up by another partywhile the minority vote certainly added to the dmk vote bank the partys core strength however was the leadership of kalaignar karunanidhi he commanded the respect of his partymen and of alliance partners for the dmk led by karunanidhi was supported by many smaller parties trying to establish their identity in tamil nadu they hoped to benefit by aligning with the dmk and did grow in strength this has now become a problem for the dmk especially with karunanidhi no morethe tables have turned with the dmk now dependent on the smaller parties including the congress not just to win the next election but to retain its position at the head of a united opposition in the state more and more the smaller parties are dictating terms and setting the agenda for the oppositiontalking about the vote bank in tamil nadu both the aiadmk and the dmk had a solid vote share of around 25 each till recently besides another 10 of the voters was strongly opposed to one or the other party when the antiincumbency votes added up one or the other party would win the election in the last assembly election the aiadmk was reelected because the antidmk voters were solidly behind itthe aiadmks vote bank can be divided into two twothirds mostly slum dwellers fishermen villagers and women cutting across sections were proaiadmk promgr and protwo leaves the other onethird was stridently antidmk this was the case from the times of mgr and it did not change during j jayalalithaas time either and is unlikely to change even nownow the present aiadmk government is certainly facing antiincumbency but the dmk has not done enough to convince the