In the absence of a formidable alliance to take on the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led combine in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has to walk the extra mile to make its two-day State conference at Tiruchi on February 15 and 16, an unqualified success.
The success of the conference will be a morale booster to party leadership and grassroots workers to campaign enthusiastically for the party in the Lok Sabha elections.
Moreover, it will also help in sending a clear message to the voters that the party’s support base is intact and the DMK can face any challenge from its arch rival even without the support of other major players in the State.
Crowd mobilisation is a task daunting the organisers, the Tiruchi district unit. It is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that footfall to the conference is on the expected lines.
“A big turnout will help us in convincing the people that the party continues to be on a firm and comfortable wicket. This will also enable other parties, which have not taken a decision on alliance, to throw in their lot with the DMK,” says a senior leader of the party.
No doubt, the rank and file is upset that the party could not forge a strong alliance, despite the high command taking serious initiatives and even going out of the way to woo parties like Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK).
“We are really disappointed that we do not have big political partners in the alliance. The partymen understand the impact. It is a big handicap at a time when the party is holding a mega event,” he says.
Tiruchi city played host to the ninth state conference of the DMK too a couple of months prior to the 2006 Assembly elections. The situation was totally different then. Ahead of the conference, the party was comfortably placed in the alliance of the Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi, CPI (M), CPI and the Indian Union Muslims League. Sonia Gandhi and other top leaders of the fraternal parties who addressed the conference expressed their unstinted support to DMK, which had a favourable impact on the people. This enabled the party to put up a big show and romp home in the Assembly elections with much ease.
Apart from State-level meetings of its various wings, the party has also launched door-to-door distribution of pamphlets in Tiruchi and neighbouring districts to mobilise people’s support.
