Stalin sticks to safe Karuna refrain as he takes crucial political test

Of all the leaders in the Tamil Nadu poll firmament, MK Stalin should be the one who is under a terrible political and moral compulsion – to prove himself as a leader in the absence of his towering father, DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi.

Stalin, who officially took over as the head of the party after the demise of his father in August last year, has in fact been at the helm of affairs for quite some time due to the latter’s falling health.

For campaign, Stalin symbolically and diligently chose Tiruvarur, Karunanidhi’s home town, to start and stop his tour. This is a departure of sorts as both Karunanidhi and his rival Jayalalithaa would travel across the state for campaigning and finish it off in Chennai. Also, many prominent leaders were campaigning in their home constituencies on the last day of campaigning, Tuesday (April 16). Notably, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami was in Salem.

This election is considered crucial in Tamil Nadu as it would also see voting for the 18 by-election seats, followed by four more on May 19. This ‘mini assembly election’ to 22 assembly seats is expected to decide the fate of the current AIADMK government under Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Stalin’s plan

The 2016 assembly elections saw Stalin taking complete control of the party and his year-long ‘Nammakku Namme’ (We for Us) campaign to garner votes. Thought the party faced defeat and the DMK alliance won 98 seats in the 234-member assembly and emerged the largest-ever opposition in Tamil Nadu with less than 2% vote share difference.

Campaign in full swing

Like in the rest of Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery delta region too was bustling with activity. There clearly was no dearth of activity as autorickshaws and tempo travellers, speakers blaring on top, crisscrossed the streets of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. Even an autorickshaw-mounted speaker blurted out a recorded voice of the late Jayalalithaa, another vehicles pulled over with huge photos of Kamal Haasan and his party MNM’s ‘torch light’ symbol.

Some 40 km away, in Mannargudi town, another new symbol — gift box — that of TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK was doing the rounds. In the region where Dhinakaran is known to have some support from the Mukkulathor community, the party workers were campaigning hard. This is expected to dent the vote share of the ruling AIADMK.

Stalin on Tuesday visited Tiruvarur and the neighbouring Nagapattinam constituency too. “Kalaignar has left us. But he lives in our hearts,” Stalin said to loud cheers in Koothanallur in Tiruvarur district under the Nagapattinam Lok Sabha constituency. In the traditional stronghold of the Communists — Nagapattinam — a reserved constituency, the CPI, which is part of the DMK-led alliance, has fielded M Selvarasu. While the AIADMK has fielded TM Saravanan, Dhinakaran’s AMMK is fielding T Sengodi.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, K Gopal of the AIADMK won this seat by defeating AKS Vijayan of the DMK by over one lakh votes.

“Selvarasu annan (elder brother) will win,” declared a 46-year old camera shy R Kamalambal. “Nagaipattinam has always been CPI’s strength and it will be clearly proven, this time,” she added.

Stating that they were not satisfied with the AIADMK government, Kamalabbal said, “where was Edappadi when we were hit by the Gaja cyclone?”

When Kamalambal, an agricultural labourer who has been a CPI supporter from her young days, was asked to rate Modi, she turned her face away and said, “Edappadi is in fact better than Modi.”

In all the 10 halts that Stalin made in Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam, he made it a point to talk about his father, the son of the soil. He also said the DMK-Congress alliance would throw out the Modi government. K Kalaivanan is the DMK candidate for the Tiruvarur assembly seat which fell vacant after Karunanidhi’s demise. He will face R Jeevanandam of the AIADMK.