For the second time in two weeks, the election campaign of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) president Vijayakant in Madurai was cancelled.
On Thursday, he was scheduled to speak at three places — Melur, K. Pudur and Kamarajar Salai — in Madurai Lok Sabha constituency, seeking votes for party candidate D. Sivamuthukumar. The cadres had made the arrangements at these places, but the meeting was cancelled in the last minute due to “breakdown of campaign vehicle.”
The DMDK president was to have campaigned in the city on March 20. It was postponed due to the visit of Bharatiya Janata Party national president Rajnath Singh to Chennai for announcing the formation of National Democratic Alliance with political parties in the State.
Mr.Vijayakant reached Madurai on Wednesday night after canvassing votes for MDMK chief Vaiko at Sivakasi and Tirumangalam. On Thursday, the three scheduled meetings were cancelled and the cadres were informed at 2 p.m. Though the breakdown of campaign vehicle was cited as the reason, the sudden cancellation comes amid internal squabbles within the party on caste equations and Mr. Vijayakant chose not to bring them into the open, party sources said.
A.K.T. Raja, DMDK’s Tirupparankundram MLA, said, “There was a snag in the campaign vehicle. We expected the vehicle from the service station before 2 p.m. Since it did not come, our leader decided to call off the meetings.”
After visiting Mr. Vijayakant at a hotel in Tirupparankundram on Thursday evening, Mr. Raja told The Hindu that the vehicle developed the snag on Wednesday night itself and it took one hour to reach Avaniapuram from Tirumangalam.
Meanwhile, there were rumours that Mr. Sivamuthukumar will be changed by the party leadership. The candidate, however, said he will file nomination papers on Friday. “I met my leader this afternoon and explained problems faced by the people. Mr.Vijayakant is also disappointed over the cancellation of Madurai meetings,” he added.
Party sources said differences had cropped up between two caste groups in the DMDK and they were taken to the attention of Mr.Vijayakant and that prompted him to call off the campaign. The DMDK chief is scheduled to address meetings in Kodaikanal, Batlagundu and Theni on Friday.
