Intense campaign in T.N. draws to a close
After a month-long intense canvassing by multiple political players for 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry, the campaign came to a close on Wednesday evening.
On Friday (April 19), nearly 6.23 crore electors in Tamil Nadu will cast their votes to choose 39 Members of Parliament out of 950 candidates.
Around 10.24 lakh voters in Puducherry will choose their nominee for the lone seat from 26 contestants. Among the known faces in the fray are: Tamilisai Soundararajan (South Chennai) and Pon Radhakrishnan (Kanniyakumari), both belonging to the BJP; Karti Chidambaram (Sivaganga)and S. Jothimani (Karur) of the Congress; Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (Thoothukudi) and Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai) of the DMK; Singai G. Ramachandran (Coimbatore) and J. Jayavardhan (South Chennai) of the AIADMK; former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (Ramanathapuram) and the AMMK’s chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran (Theni).
Arch rivals
Traditional rivals — the DMK and the AIADMK — slogged it out in the fray, heading their own fronts and the burden of their campaign was essentially borne by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for the former and his predecessor Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the latter.
In respect of the ruling party, Minister for Sports and Youth Development Udhayanidhi Stalin, who hogged the headlines in September last, over his observations on Sanatana Dharma, conducted extensive roadshows. Premalatha Vijayakant, general secretary of the AIADMK’s ally, the DMDK, did as much as she could in canvassing for votes.
In Virudhunagar, Premallatha Vijayakant’s son, Vijaya Prabhakaran, is taking on two-time and sitting MP, B. Manickam Tagore, of the Congress, and veteran actor Radikaa Sarathkumar of the BJP.
There are two more players in the eld – the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) coalition and the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), both of which sought to promote themselves as an alternative to the Dravidian majors. They were no less serious in their eorts. In the case of the former, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and the national party’s chief, J.P. Nadda, travelled across the State to canvass votes, apart from Tamil Nadu unit president K. Annamalai, who is contesting from Coimbatore.
The NTK founder, Seeman, who set apart half of the party tickets for women, declared the two Dravidian majors and the two national parties as his adversaries. Contrary to the level of engagement by Mr. Modi with the people this time, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge made only token visits.
Even though issues that gured prominently in the northern parts of the country, such as the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the termination of the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), did not have resonance in the State, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 was raised by the two Dravidian majors. While the DMK stood for its repeal, the AIADMK was for bringing Muslims and refugees from Sri Lanka under the fold of the law. Needless to say, in®ation and unemployment were among the issues raised by the parties.
As for the trading of barbs against each other, the DMK found fault with the AIADMK for having a “secret alliance” with the BJP despite the formal separation. Mr. Palaniswami continued blaming the ruling party for the “deterioration” in law and order and the “rampant” prevalence of drugs.
Unlike Mr. Annamalai and even Mr. Shah, who criticised their erstwhile partner, the AIADMK, the Prime Minister preferred to praise the Dravidian major’s leaders. He did not share his colleagues’ criticism. However, both Mr. Shah and Mr. Modi sought to corner the DMK on a host of issues, such as the row over Sanatana Dharma and Katchatheevu.
As for Puducherry, all the four leading contestants favoured Statehood for the Union Territory.
With a multi-cornered contest all over the State and the Union Territory, what may become inevitable is that one party or the other may play spoilsport for the runner-up in many constituencies.