A huge wave of applause and cheer ran across the crowds as their Chief Minister said, “All those in Tiruvarur are my relatives.” As the DMK president M Karunanidhi launched the party's election campaign on Wednesday from his hometown Tiruvarur – a constituency the DMK has won five times including the last three times in a row – he expanded the list of beneficiaries of his magnanimity. Addressing a mammoth election rally, he promised free laptops to all students joining college, expanding the party's earlier announcement of laptops to students from backward classes, SC and ST communities. He said his party always implemented all schemes promised in the manifesto. Karunanidhi has won nine times from the DMK's bastion, Chennai. Analysts say his homecoming is perhaps due to the worry that the 2G spectrum scam could dent its urban vote bank.
