With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha threatening fresh elections, the walls in the state capital are being painted white.

And many already have painted on them colourful pictures of MGR, as the AIADMK founder, former chief minister and Jayalalitha's mentor M.G. Ramachandran is known.

Assembly elections are due only in May next year, but many feel they may be held by the end of this year.

Naturally, the political climate in Tamil Nadu has begun to hot up even as summer sets in.

Even the announcement of an early budget, on March 2, has raised speculation that the polls will be held before their time.

The AIADMK grass-root workers are not waiting until the actual poll time is upon them. Jayalalitha's birthday Thursday has given them a fresh impetus to beat the election drums.

Jayalalitha, who suffered a humiliating rout in the May 2004 parliamentary elections losing all 39 seats, set the tone Feb 15 by asking her party to "get ready for elections". She also predicted early parliamentary polls.

The Congress, having tasted success nationally last year, has queered the pitch by saying it wants to share power in Tamil Nadu too.

It was central minister E.V.K.S. Elangovan, who last week first floated the idea of forming a future government in the state in alliance with the DMK. This had the tacit support of state Congress president G.K. Vasan.

Recalling that the Congress was in a coalition mode in Tamil Nadu as early as 1952, Elangovan said: "Coalitions at the centre and in states have become the order of the day and Tamil Nadu cannot be an exception for long."

"It is quite natural for a national party like the Congress to expect to be a part of a government", says Sudarshan Natchiappan, a Rajya Sabha member and close friend of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

The DMK, which is a key member of the Congress-led coalition ruling New Delhi, is not at all happy.
Taken by surprise, the party has attacked Elangovan's premise in a blistering article in 'Murasoli', its party organ.  

Already there are rumours that the Congress might ditch the DMK and embrace the AIADMK.

Everyone is discussing various possibilities.

The Communist Party of India, a long-standing DMK ally, however reacted cautiously. Its state unit chief R. Nallakannu told IANS: "It is early days yet to talk of alliances and coalitions." 

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader N. Varadarajan said his party favours continuance of the present seven-party opposition alliance led by the DMK.

"There is no possibility for a third front in Tamil Nadu," he said, in an obvious reference to the Congress playing a larger game than it is capable of in DMK-AIADMK dominated Tamil Nadu.

A.K. Natarajan, who heads the Vanniar Sangam, has meanwhile threatened to launch a "spiritual-based political movement" in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravidian movement has been deep-rooted.

He made the announcement a few days ago after an hour-long meeting with Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchipuram who is out on bail in a murder case.

Despite Jayalalitha's seeming confidence of early parliamentary elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), another DMK-Congress ally, insists that the multiparty central government will last its full five-year term.

PMK chief S. Ramadoss, speaking this weekend, called the possibility of another Lok Sabha polls in 2006 "Jayalalitha's pipedream".

He dared the chief minister by saying that if Jayalalitha "is so confident of popular support, she should dissolve the assembly" now and "have elections under governor's rule".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which snapped its links with Jayalalitha following the arrests of the Kanchipuram Shankaracharyas, is presently treading a lonely path in Tamil Nadu.

But elections or no elections, Tamil Nadu has become vibrant - politically.