Chennai: The war in Sri Lanka has become a major political issue in Tamil Nadu, with each party trying to up the ante. If Jayalalithaa asked for a separate Tamil Eelam then Karunanidhi went on a hunger strike.
Posters showing Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka is now a common sight in Chennai's political landscape.
Posters pasted on the walls of the party offices like the MDMK's, images once confined to the fringes of Tamil Nadu politics is now taking centre stage across the state.
The growing political clamour over Sri Lanka is throwing up each day a new headline: Hunger strikes, protest marches and even fatal immolations -- 15 so far.
At the funeral of every so-called martyr: Sharp speeches by a familiar cast of characters: Vaiko, Nedumaran and Thirumavalavan.
Once they were all united for the Eelam cause under the DMK banner, their political ambitions has now taken them into different alliances.
Vaiko is with the AIADMK now praises Jayalalithaa who in 2002 jailed him for his pro-LTTE stand, Thirumavalavan with DMK and Congress.
"When the alliances were forged, they never bothered about this issue. Because Jayalalithaa had a different stand on the Sri Lankan Tamils. Vaiko and Pandian of CPI totally differed. In fact they were spearheading the Lankan issue here. Similarly, Thirumavalavan who's very vociferous on this issue went with Karunanidhi and Congress whose perceptions were totally different. Once one alliance raises this issue, the other alliance can't keep quite. So, they have to do this tokenism," said Gnani, Political Commentator.
And so the Eelam rhetoric has intensified.
The presence of the fringe voices also forced mainstream parties to take a Lanka stand.
Jayalalithaa did a dramatic turnaround and Karunanidhi worried by the growing criticism that the DMK was not taking a tougher stand partly because of its alliance with the Congress went on a hunger strike.
Now, a new cycle of competitive politics begins as the DMK, Congress claims their pressure led to the halt in war and their rivals term it a new drama.