It is election time and the most populist slogan - ''free rice'' - is again at centre-stage, with archrivals ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK vying with one another in making promises to lure voters.

Whichever political party or leader calls for a press conference, the interaction is not complete without raising a question on the grandiose promises made on providing free rice.

The issue dominates campaign meetings of both DMK and AIADMK, with front constituents taking pot shots at each other's announcements.

The DMK first delivered a bolt from the blue with the party saying in its manifesto that it would provide Rs 2 a kg under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to all card holders if voted to power.

The AIADMK and its new-found ally MDMK immediately criticised the announcement, to which DMK chief M Karunanidhi went a step further and said his first signature (if the party wins the polls) would be on the government order announcing PDS rice sale at Rs 2 a kg.

A little thought and people realised that this was not the first time the DMK was using the rice weapon. During the rice scarcity in the sixties, it was a similar promise that catapulted the party to power in 1967 for the first time, unseating the Congress. True, the assurance could not be kept in full, but it had done its job by then.

Circa 2006, it has again emerged the focal issue in the May 8 Assembly polls, with the DMK going all out to recapture power and the AIADMK fighting to retain it.

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