In an eventful 2006, Tamil Nadu saw the grand old man of politics and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi returning as chief minister for the fifth time at the age of 84, after his party-led Democratic Progressive Alliance achieved a resounding victory in the May 8 Assembly elections.
It was also for the first time that the people of the state denied any political party an absolute majority and DMK formed a minority government with outside support from its allies Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi and Left parties.
The year began with Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko, for whose release from Prevention of Terrorism Act detention Karunanidhi fought, switching over to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance, giving the then ruling party, a much sought after ally.
Vaiko left the United Progressive Alliance on the day of DMK's pre-poll state-level conference at Tiruchirapalli, on March 4, 2006, where he was supposed to be one of the major speakers.
The MDMK chief accused DMK of adopting a "big brotherly" attitude. With MDMK gone, DMK got a free hand to provide more number of seats to its other allies.
In the May 8 Assembly polls, people reinforced their faith in the DMK-led DPA in the state as they had done to constituents of the UPA at the Centre by giving them all the 39 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu in 2004.
The acrimonious run up to the Assembly elections saw the DMK and AIADMK offering various sops like free colour television sets, rice at Rs 2 per kg, two acres of land to the landless, free rice of 10 kg to ration card holders and gold for manglasutra.
DMK promised rice of Rs 2 per kg and free land.
After realising that DMK's promises had caught the fancy of the people, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa too announced 10 kg of free rice, two litres of kerosene free of cost and gold for manglasutras.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who campaigned for the DPA, described DMK's manifesto as the 'hero of the 2006 elections'.
Vaiko, leading the campaign for AIADMK, attacked members of Karunanidhi family, alleging they had amassed wealth
disproportionate to their income.
Though DMK formed a minority government with outside support from its allies, it had to pay a price as allies like PMK had compelled the government to give up its decisions like setting up of a satellite town near Chennai.
Congress in the state, on its part, wanted its pound of flesh, by demanding that it be accommodated in the ministry.
Its leaders had spurned the offer of chairmanship of various boards. However, the Congress high command sided with
Karunanidhi by not yielding to Pradesh Congress Committee leaders.
The local body elections came as a thorn in the relations among the constitutents of DPA, with almost all of them charging DMK with 'betraying them' by making its rebel candidates as the chiefs of civic bodies, which had been allotted to them.
The six months rule of DMK had made a positive impact on the economy of Tamil Nadu. International giants like Samsung, Flextronics, Motorola and Dell computers signed MoUs with the state for setting up their units. In fact, FDI to the tune of Rs 2,900 crore came into the state during the period.
The year also saw the death of several prominent personalities. P T R Palanivelrajan, the only religious minded face in the atheist DMK died within a fortnight of being inducted as a minister in the Karunanidhi ministry on May 27.
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