In his characteristically acerbic style, actor-turned-politician and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader, Vijayakant, brooked no further delay by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in formalising the seat-sharing pact in Tamil Nadu and kicked off his party's campaign on Friday, exhorting voters not to give another chance for corrupt people to rule after the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.
Speaking from his campaign vehicle in Gummudipoondi in neighbouring Tiruvallur constituency on the outskirts of the city amid high expectations from party cadres that some clarity will finally emerge about the DMDK’s alliance with the BJP, Vijayakant alleged that the AIADMK government in the State had failed to keep up its promise to solve the power crisis.
While MDMK and BJP flags fluttered in the vicinity of the venue where he began his campaign, flags of the PMK, the other prospective ally in the front, were conspicuous by their absence.
However, by the time he began his speech, word went around about the imminent announcement of V. Yuvaraj as the candidate for the Thiruvallur (Reserved) constituency, as the party-backed television channel, Captain TV, began putting out the first list of contestants of the DMDK.
Mr. Vijayakant devoted most of his speech to assail the State government. While the ruling AIADMK promised to rid Tamil Nadu of power shortage within a specific time period, Mr. Vijayakant, cheered by the crowd for his cool daring, said long power outages were still being witnessed in many parts of the State. Prices of essential commodities kept soaring, affecting common people the most, he remarked.
The DMDK leader also addressed roadside meetings in North Chennai and Sriperumbudur on Friday. The other four DMDK candidates unilaterally announced as his campaign for the day proceeded were: Sivamuthukumar for Madurai, A. M. G. Vijayakumar for Tiruchi, Soundarapandian for North Chennai and Maheswaran for Namakkal.
