The “unexpected” setback to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the recent Lok Sabha elections has not deterred ‘Cycle’ C. Vadivel of Sattaiyampudur village in Namakkal district, a staunch party loyalist in any manner.
Vadivel has commenced a tour of all the 39 parliamentary constituencies in the State on his bicycle to thank the voters for having voted in favour of the AIADMK-led front.
Touring the State by bicycle is not something new for the 38-year-old Vadivel. He had campaigned for the AIADMK candidates throughout the State on the common man’s vehicle during the last four Assembly elections.
In the present expedition, he has so far covered 17 districts after commencing his tour in Salem on July 11. He has planned to cover the other districts in another couple of months, before winding up the programme in Chennai, hopefully in the presence of party supremo Jayalalithaa.
“What is the need for such a voyage, when the party had suffered a setback?”
“The elections were not fought on the democratic lines. This victory, which is a temporary one, was purchased by the DMK-led front by spending huge sums. The AIADMK cadres are only ‘disappointed’ and not ‘disheartened’ at the poll outcome,” he says.
Interestingly, he has been visiting the Lok Sabha seats contested by the other parties that formed part of the AIADMK-led front too to thank the voters.
Before reaching a particular constituency, he contacts the local organisers and gets pamphlets thanking the voters and seeking their support for the party in the next Assembly elections ready. He distributes them in the localities enroute.
“Do your family members support such adventures?”
“I hail from a family, which has traditional AIADMK background. My parents are staunch loyalists of the party and ‘Amma.’ So too is my wife. They have always supported all my initiatives to strengthen the party,” signs off Vadivel, a father of two children – a boy named MGR Dasan, and a girl named Annai Sathya.
