In the three decades following MGR’s death, the two dominant parties in the state took turns to develop, refine, upgrade, and scale up the corruption system put in place in the early 1980s. Escalating political and electoral financing needs, the desire of political leaders and their kin for personal enrichment to levels previously unheard of in the state, and the abundance of opportunity that charisma, stardom, and mass popularity offered strong leaders in a relatively developed state with decent economic growth rates combined to make Tamil Nadu’s system of grand corruption what it is today,
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