AIADMK cadre haven’t had many occasions to celebrate of late. And even when they did – say to raise a toast to the new government or the ‘merger’ – the celebrations were relatively sedate and tinged with an anxiety.
However, on Thursday, outside the party’s Avvai Shanmugam Road headquarters, nothing could hold them back. No more could one hear the refrain: “We hope the other side will join us soon” . The cadre felt invincible; they would rally around the ‘two leaves’ and rest in its shade.
The feeling among leaders was no different. When former minister B. Valarmathi arrived at 3.25 p.m., she had a stainless steel tray with laddus and jalebis heaped on it. As she fed those who had gathered, someone suggested, “Let’s go celebrate on the road.” So off they went to the middle of the busy road, offering sweets to passersby.
Then, with party workers holding off traffic at either end and a large posse of police personnel looking on, Ms. Valarmathi lit a firecracker fuse, threw it to the ground and ran.
The crowd scattered; the crackers went off.
“After [P.K.] Sekar Babu left our party and went over to the DMK, he asked an elderly voter coming out of the polling booth in R.K. Nagar whether she had voted for him. “Yes, thambi . I have punched for the rettai ila (two leaves),”” recalled R.V. Selvakumar, Joint Secretary of the South Chennai MGR Mandram, chuckling.
Similar sentiments would be echoed later by Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar. “This is the victory symbol of our party. Justice is on our side,” he said.
‘ Amma ’s party’
“We have won it for our cadre. EPS and OPS are united. This is Amma ’s party again,” said Chennai Central MP S.R. Vijayakumar, turning down an offer to celebrate on the road.
Earlier in the day, the CM had talked about 90% of the cadre being with his faction. “We do not want [V.K.] Sasikala’s family back.
Ordinary workers who are still with them can return if they want to,” said Mr. Selvakumar.
