Ever since the Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) was launched on November 28 last year, there has been much speculation about which party it would have an electoral alliance with. Although some suggested that the TMC was looking to get closer to the BJP, its president G.K. Vasan put an end to the controversy by reiterating his commitment to “secularism”.
The other assumption was that the party would eventually join hands with the AIADMK, a perception fuelled by the presence of former TNCC president B.S. Gnanadesikan in its ranks, a leader considered to favour the AIADMK over the DMK.
Since the original TMC under G.K. Moopanar had a formidable presence in the Central districts, the party was expected to throw its hat in for the by-election to the Srirangam constituency. But Mr. Vasan clarified last week that the party would avoid the by-poll since its membership drive was not complete.
Observers feel this was a strategic move to keep all options open and not unnecessarily ruffle AIADMK feathers given the high stakes attached to the Assembly seat previously held by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Functionaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Erode have a reason to feel pleased about the frequent visits of national and state-level leaders to the district in the recent months.
Party's national secretary H. Raja has visited Erode four times and senior leader L. Ganesan thrice. Every time these leaders visited, they made it a point to interact with mediapersons and take part in public meetings or private functions.
The local functionaries not just gain windfall publicity during such visits, they are apparently more than able to meet the target set for scaling up membership. For, influential grass-root level cadres of other parties in Erode and also neighbouring districts who are wooed by the BJP find it convenient to personally call on the visiting leaders and enrol themselves.
When everyone was questioning the agonising silence of the two major Dravidian parties over the attack on writer Perumal Murugan, DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin broke his silence and came down heavily on those who had orchestrated the campaign against the writer. Mr. Stalin posted his views on his Facebook page and the media went to town with it. But DMK partymen are wondering why the party organ Murasoli is not taking notice of Mr. Stalin’s message. Four days have passed but the newspaper is yet to carry the news.
With political parties and poll officials getting busy with the by-election for Srirangam Assembly constituency, some astrologers are also getting hectic as many ruling party functionaries are approaching them in Madurai and Tirunelveli. An astrologer in the temple city who had predicted a few things right is now the most preferred person by staunch loyalists of ‘Amma’. This astrologer is said to make his predictions only on Fridays after performing pujas. With just about three weeks left for the polling, AIADMK cadres got in touch with the astrologer on January 16 (the first Friday) and are in a jubilant mood with his first predictions giving positive signals. When journalists covering the AIADMK party in Madurai asked about the significance of the astrologer, they said this ‘josiyar’ had not only predicted the victory for the party precisely in the past in southern districts, but also spelt out the dark days for the party (apparently referring to the conviction of their supremo). Now, the partymen said they were offering prayers in temples specifically chosen by him as best matched with the former Chief Minister's astrological ‘star’.
( Sruthisagar Yamunan, R.Krishnamoorthy,B. Kolappan andL. Srikrishna )
