Chennai:
It's not just the humiliation of a defeat in the assembly polls. It's the magnitude of defeat that has added insult to the DMK's injury as the party is not even the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
After managing just 23 seats in the assembly elections, the DMK has now been relegated to the third slot in the political hierarchy. It must hurt as it has now lost the coveted main opposition status to the DMDK - a member of the winning Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK alliance - which has 29 seats in its kitty.
A harsh reality resonant in party patriarch and former chief minister M Karunanidhi's voice soon after the verdict was out.
"The people of Tamil Nadu have given me rest," said Mr Karunanidhi after his party and the Congress together won just 32 of the 234 seats at stake.
The DMDK, meanwhile, is basking in the glory of electoral success. The party, led by actor Vijayakanth, had won just one seat in the last assembly elections. But the Captain, as the actor is popularly called, saw a remarkable turnaround in his party's fortunes by allying with Jayalalithaa.
"It's a people's victory", Mr Vijayakanth had said after the AIADMK-led front's resounding victory.
The results have clearly catapulted the DMDK into a player to reckon with in Tamil Nadu's political arena. But, more significantly, it has sent out a wake-up call to the DMK. The party now not just has one but two rivals to contend with, a fact that it just can't afford to ignore.