Understated EPS shuns van, hits streets on last day of campaign

Tamil Nadu will go to polls in a couple of hours. Throughout the campaign, state chief minister Edappadi K Palanisami has been vigorously touring the state and addressing people, mostly from open-top vans. His stump or stage addresses were very limited too.

He started his campaign from his native district Salem, after a brief prayer at the Vinayakar temple at Karumandurai. He kicked off the last leg of his campaign also from Pattai Koil, a Perumal temple in Chinnakadai street, Salem. During the last leg of his campaign, he got off the van and started moving about on foot in the Chinnakadai bazaar street along with the party’s Salem constituency candidate KRS Saravanan. He distributed handouts listing the achievements of the AIADMK government. In a way, the campaign was quite similar to that of DMK chief MK Stalin. EPS stopped at every shop on the way and urged the people gathered to vote for the party. He made it a point to ask of their well-being and their business. People, especially women, were characteristically shy, perhaps at seeing the chief minister himself on the road. At some shops, he received petitions too.

He also stopped at a shop and had coffee. He found figures on the shop’s daily business and wanted to know how much the helper, Murugan, was getting. “After having coffee, the CM said it was good, paid for it and left,” he said.

The CM’s coffee-shop outing was all over on television channels.  Jayalakshmi, who runs a provision shop, is also a leader of the women’s wing of the party. “Most of the people here don’t know who the candidate is. He is unrecognisable. Only the CM was visible,” she said. When asked about the chances of the AIADMK winning the seat, her husband said, “Until Veerapandi Arumugam was there, this constituency was a DMK fort. But after him, the DMK lost its hold. Also, the DMK’s candidate here is known for indulging in ‘Katta panchayat’ activities. So, most people here are against the DMK,” he says. But for Jayalakshmi, she has another demand. “I took an ‘arathi’ to him. Someone took the photos. Is it possible to get me the photos?” she asked innocently.

“In Edappadi, the native region of the CM, there is a solid vote bank,” says Kumaran, a juice shop owner. People respect him but it is difficult to say if that would turn to voters, he added.  Lakshmi Ammal, a vegetable seller said, “My family and I generally vote for the AIADMK. The CM is doing whatever Amma wanted to do. They are good. Nothing more than to say.”  The general perception is that the people from the Kongu belt, which spreads from Coimbatore through Salem to Namakkal, are appreciative about of the way he runs the party and the government. There is a Tamil saying in the region which says the people of the Kongu region has ‘an ability to pick’ (the right people).