With the mercury levels fluctuating between 35°C and 40°C in many places across the State, Lok Sabha candidates are literally sweating it out during their campaign.
With still a week of campaigning to go, leaders and candidates of political parties are trying their best to keep themselves fit and energetic. Consumption of water, buttermilk and tender coconuts has become the order of the day for politicians. “I take lots of liquids,” says R. Mahendran, the Makkal Needhi Maiam’s candidate for Coimbatore.
“Some people take energy drinks too,” says La. Ganesan, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s former vice-president, who has campaigned in South Chennai (for the AIADMK) and in constituencies where his party’s candidates are contesting.
“My friends and I take gruel before we begin the day,” says N. Madhusoodhanan, an IT professional-turned-politician and the Naam Tamilar Katchi’s nominee for Krishnagiri.
It is due to the torrid summer that older politicians prefer to complete the first half of the day’s campaigning by 11 a.m. or by noon, to resume only by 4.30 p.m. or 5 p.m. and wrap it up by 10 p.m. “This is how our Sriperumbudur candidate T.R. Baalu is managing the show,” says R.S. Bharathi, organising secretary of the DMK, who handles the campaigns in Alandur and Nanganallur.
J.C.D. Prabhakar, a senior AIADMK leader in charge of the Villivakkam Assembly segment of the Central Chennai Lok Sabha constituency, where the ruling party’s ally, the PMK, is contesting, explains that party workers these days cover constituencies on two-wheelers rather than on foot to avoid the heat.
Younger politicians are willing to go the extra mile. N.G. Parthiban, the AMMK candidate for Arakkonam, who is in his early 40s, says he takes a break only for an hour or so during the day before resuming his campaign.
Congress spokesperson Americai V. Narayanan, who was in Sivaganga on Monday to seek votes for Karti P. Chidambaram, and has campaigned in Tiruchi and South Chennai as well, says though candidates and their colleagues generally use cars and two-wheelers to visit their respective areas, they do cover the places on foot at select points in towns and villages. “Whether there is sweltering heat or not, the candidates have to be seen in action,” Mr. Narayanan says.
Apart from how party leaders and contestants are managing to beat the heat, the manner in which the campaign is being carried out has become a subject of political discourse.
Recently, the AIADMK complained to the electoral authorities that the DMK had not been complying with norms laid down by the Madras High Court in 2016 on the arrangements to be made for people who attend rallies.
