olitical leaders have an unenviable task during elections. While they lead from the front, campaigning for other candidates in their party or alliance, they also have to keep an eye on their own backyards and fend off rivals.
They know very well that charisma alone cannot guarantee a win in their own constituencies as voters dislike star candidates taking them for granted.
So, while they criss-cross the State, the leaders’ foot soldiers and family members prepare the ground for their victories.
In north Chennai’s Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, where AIADMK leader and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is seeking re-election, party functionaries are going door-to-door to counter criticism that the Chief Minister has not set foot in the constituency.
The cadres visit homes between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. to explain to people the Chief Minister’s “achievements” and follow it up by holding roadside public meetings in the evenings.
At these meetings, actors of yesteryear such as Vindhya and Ramarajan attempt to attract crowds and use the occasion to highlight the Jayalalithaa government’s achievements.
The canvassing schedule is coordinated and supervised by locally influential functionaries, including party veteran Madhusoodanan and former R.K. Nagar legislator P. Vetrivel, who is also the AIADMK’s north Chennai district unit secretary.
Elsewhere, in Tiruvarur — where DMK president M. Karunanidhi is seeking a record 13{+t}{+h}straight victory in Assembly elections — M.K. Tamilarasu, Mr. Karunanidhi’s youngest son, is handling the campaign. Mr. Tamilarasu, who used to be in charge of the DMK warhorse’s erstwhile constituency — Chepauk in Chennai — last week declared open the party’s election office on East Street.
Since then, he has been going around the town, visiting people’s homes and trying to strike a chord with them.
He distributes handbills highlighting the achievements of the previous DMK governments and Mr. Karunanidhi’s contribution to the society in general and Tiruvarur in particular.
Soon, Mr. Tamilarasu will be joined by his elder sister S. Selvi, who campaigned for her father in 2011 as well.
Incidentally, the siblings will also spend time in Kolathur, from where their brother and DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin is seeking re-election.
According to sources in the party, a robust campaign network has been set up. A five-member committee comprising area secretaries has been formed to oversee and organise the campaigns.
“Mr. Stalin canvassed earlier this month in Kolathur. Various wings in the party, including those of advocates, students and women, are now involved in door-to-door canvassing. We are also organising meetings for booth committees and are in the process of distributing pamphlets highlighting Mr. Stalin’s performance as an MLA,” says a DMK functionary.
The DMK leader’s wife, Durga, who emerged as one of the family’s star campaigners in the last election, will also be out campaigning this time. She accepted petitions on her husband’s behalf from representatives of residents’ welfare associations in Kolathur in 2011.
They know very well that charisma alone cannot guarantee victory
in the elections
