Chennai Corner

Son of the soil
After 44 years of fighting from different city constituencies, CM Karunanidhi has gone back to Tiruvarur, where he grew up, to try his luck this time. He has never lost an election since 1957. He says he has an emotional bond with Tiruvarur – he studied in the Vadapathimangalam Boys Higher Secondary School from Class VI – staying in the house of his sister, Shanmughasundarathamal. He says he always wanted to but could not contest from this constituency which to this day is educationally and economically backward, but could not because it was reserved. However, he filed his nomination here for the forthcoming assembly poll after it became a general seat following delimitation because he is a "son of the soil". But his detractors say that he and other DMK stalwarts fled city constituencies to rural ones so that the 2G effect does not burn them.

The house today and what it was nearly 70 years ago when he came to stay are totally different. Now it is a three-storey modern building thanks to all the renovation done over the years and the only old touches are portraits of his parents, sister and her son (Murasoli Maran) which hang on walls in different rooms downstairs. A makeshift ramp has been constructed so he can be wheeled in when the DMK chief stays here for two days at the end of his campaign on April 10. "Over the years Kalaignar, his son Stalin and other members of his family have come for a few hours to the house but never stayed here," says one of DMK leaders, who is getting the house ready for the CM’s stay.

Karunanidhi’s appeal to voters is on the strength of his being a "son of the soil" and his familiarity with some of the people he knew as a boy. That pitch will definitely help him win but detractors say his emotional appeal disguises his anxiety to contest from a "safe" constituency. Although the left considers it a citadel (when the left and DMK were in an alliance, this constituency returned CPIM and DMK candidates five times) , no one has any doubt that the constituents are not flattered that the CM’s presence has turned Tiruvarur into a star constituency from a place which people found difficult to point on a map.

A daughter's campaign

Karunanidhi’s "campaign manager" is his Bangalore-based daughter, Selvi Selvam, who has made Tiruvarur her home temporarily to connect with the people. "Appavukku vote podunga (vote for my father)," is her refrain. And her style is to hold women’s hands as she walks around the constituency when she makes her smiling request. Since many of the houses are huts, her one question at every home is whether they have been given an allotment under the Kalaignar Housing Scheme launched last year to convert 21 lakh huts into concrete houses over a six year period.

The constituency has colonies of houses far flung from each other, so typical of villages. "In many places people ask why do I take the trouble venturing so far considering my father is a son of the soil and their vote is reserved for him?" Selvi says. Selvi, who is married to the younger brother of Murasoli Maran, is a "daughter-in-law of this soil." "Campaigning is not new to me since I had campaigned for my father in the past, even my brother Stalin in Thousand Lights constituency and my nephew Dayanandhi Maran in Central Chennai last year."

Of all of Karunanidhi’s children she and brother, Tamilarasu are low-profile and not into politics. She says, "I don’t speak politics and criticize others. I only remind people of the welfare schemes introduced by my father."

Daughter, daughter-in-law grand-daughter

Selvi's step-sister Kanimozhi also campaigned for her father. The difference is that this Rajya Sabha MP prefers addressing meetings and taking on AIADMK’s Jayalalitha in her speeches. "It was a long-cherished dream for my father to contest from here and I am sure it was your dream to elect him. So it will be a win-win situation for both," she says. About Jayalalitha, she criticizes the AIADMK’s manifesto saying it has been "copied". In fact she says even the CPM in Kerala was inspired by the DMK’s manifesto.

But Kanimozhi, despite being an MP and her father’s daughter is not a star campaigner for the party, because she is hobbled by the swirling allegations about her link to Kalaignar TV which allegedly got 2G scam slush funds. She is also not articulate and no platform speaker and was always considered the literary heir of Karunanidhi. The fact that she was seen as being close to Raja has also put her under a cloud and on the defensive. "The inquiry is on. Let the law take its own course," she says evasively.

The women in Karunanidhi’s family are standing in for their fathers/husband this election. Like Durga Stalin whose entry into a house at Kolathur (from where her husband and deputy CM Stalin is standing) caused quite a stir. With her traditional good lucks and her smiling visage, she has won over many hearts. "We were happy to see Thalapathi’s (commander, which is Stalin’s sobriquet) wife. It was as if Mahalakshmi visited us," gushed some women after her visit. She has campaigned for Stalin for a long time and had in fact come to Kolathur when Stalin was the Mayor of Chennai back in 1996. "I am surprised at the overwhelming response of the voters. They have assured me that they will elect my husband with a huge majority," she says.

Yet another campaigner – apart from union minister Dayanidhi Maran who is a grand nephew of the CM – is Kayalvizhi Venkatesh, the daughter of Azhagiri. She is a complete politician attacking Jayalalitha and Vijayakanth and defending her father, whose pet hate at the moment is the Election Commission which has restrained his and his associates’ movements making the doling out of money to voters extremely difficult. As the campaign secretary of the DMK women’s wing she has been campaigning for her candidates in Madurai district and targeting Jayalalitha’s penchant for escaping to the "cool climes of Kodanadu rather than serving the people of the state."

Clash of the Titans

Stalin, who had thought Kolathur would be a walk-over (the DMK got a big lead in this area during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls) is in some trouble because basic amenities have eluded the people and also the AIADMK has fielded Saidai Duraisamy, who is no pushover.

Kolathur is a new constituency so whoever is elected will be its first MLA. Stalin, although he claims that he shifted because he wanted to give Thousand Lights (from which he has been contesting since 1984) to the youthful Jinnah, clearly moved to escape the 2G effect which the DMK reckons is acute in urban areas. Vijayakanth of the DMDK, who campaigned for Duraiswamy recently said, "Though fondly known as ‘Saidai’ Duraiswamy (he got this nickname for contesting from Saidapet), he should be called 'Kolathur' Duraiswamy from now on."

Duraiswamy’s popularity is linked to the Manidha Naeyam IAS Academy, which he started in 2006. He has helped 85 students get into the civil services and 680 into the state government by coaching them to pass the state service commission. Currently it has 3,000 candidates on its rolls in its two Chennai and 12 other branches all over the state.

With such a formidable rival, Stalin is seeking all the help he can get, including calling on Superstar Rajnikanth, hoping he would signal to his fans to stand by the DMK.

Stooping to conquer

Sonia Gandhi was taken aback when Puducherry’s health minister, A Namassivayam prostrated before her when candidates were being introduced during her campaign rally this week. She moved away swiftly and spoke to Puducherry CM V Vaithilingam and refused to look at the minister at her feet. Maybe she is not used to the South Indian gesture of prostrating (because politicians like Jayalalitha handle all the genuflecting that comes their way with aplomb), but probably can handle the North Indian way of touching an elder’s feet because later candidates who touched her feet were even rewarded with a pat. Stooping to conquer seems to be the in thing whether you are a voter or a candidate because voters at Marina beach found volunteers of the Sathyagraha Movement prostrating before them. The volunteers plea: "Please take a pledge not to sell your vote. Do not accept money or gifts in return for your vote." Ramakrishna Shastri, president of the movement, is confident that their appeal will work.

BJP’s novel appeal

One should hand it to the BJP. There is no political space for that party in this state where Dravidian parties and their clones strut around, but it does not give up. This election virtually everyone of its national leaders have campaigned for the 194 seats the party is fighting – L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and even Gujarat CM Narender Modi will make a stopover. And all they are asking is for a chance to sit in the opposition so they can voice their grievances in the assembly. But maybe people will remember the BJP’s role that led to the Parliament not holding a single sitting during the winter session as it stalled the House demanding a JPC on the Spectrum scam, wasting precious public money. Well, with Dravidian parties in charge here and more Dravidian parties coming onto the political stage, chances of the BJP opening its account here seems like a distant dream!