Tiruvarur/Chennai:
It's not just the opposition onslaught on the 2G spectrum scam that DMK chief Karunanidhi will have to tackle this election season. A popular social activist, Traffic Ramaswamy, is contesting against the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister as an independent candidate in his rural constituency Tiruvarur. His agenda - to explain the 2G spectrum scam to rural voters.
Traffic Ramaswamy may not make any significant impact on the voting, but he wants to make a point.
"They are responsible for the 2G spectrum scam. I am going to expose it," he says.
The DMK says this is just a publicity stunt and that the activist may not even retain his deposit.
"There is no truth in the 2G spectrum scam. We have not been found guilty," says Karunanidhi's son MK Alagiri. The scam saw DMK leader A Raja resign as Telecom Minister in November; he was arrested in February.
Karunanidhi has won nine times from the DMK's bastion, Chennai. This is the first time since 1962 that he is not contesting the elections from there. Analysts say his homecoming to Tiruvarur was perhaps due to the worry that spectrum scam could dent its urban vote bank.
But with Traffic Ramaswamy preparing to highlight the issue of corruption, the 2G shadow clearly refuses to disappear.