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ON
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
After
1,000 km, CM predicts DMK sweep
J. Balaji
Chennai,
April 22:
MUTHUVEL Karunanidhi, the 77-year-old chief minister and the lone
‘crowd puller’ of the NDA-led by DMK in Tamil Nadu, has
successfully completed his first phase of electioneering (from April
17 — 20), covering over 1,000 km by road, visiting places like
Pallavaram, Chengalpattu, Tindivanam, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Chidambaram,
Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Pattukkottai and Pudukottai.
The DMK chief
is confident that the ruling DMK would sweep the polls. He cites
the ‘‘massive response’’ he has received wherever
he toured in support of his assessment. The Chief Minister took
up only two major issues during his campaign. One is AIADMK general
secretary J. Jayalalitha’s eligibility to contest polls in
view of her conviction in the corruption cases and the other is
to refute the rivals’ charge that the DMK Front is a ‘‘casteist
set-up’’.
‘‘When
I file my nomination for the Chepauk Assembly constituency on April
23, I am confident that my papers would be valid,’’ he
said and the crowd cheered him up even before he could start the
next sentence: ‘‘But could Jayalalitha say that her nomination
will be validated by the returning officer?’’
Similarly pooh-poohing
the Opposition’s charge that the DMK is encouraging casteist
organisations like DPI and Pudhiya Tamilagam, Karunanidhi quipped:
‘‘Engal kootani sathi kootani allah. Sathikum kootani
(Ours is not a casteist set-up).’’
Quoting extensively
from Tamil epics, Karunanidhi sought to drive the message home that
he was a champion of the Tamils’ cause. He also projected himself
as an effective administrator. When Karunanidhi asked the ‘big
crowd he drew wherever he visited, if they would allow Jayalalitha
to return replacing the ‘good’ DMK government, the gathering
responded with a loud ‘‘No’’. The Chief Minister
never failed to project NDA leader and Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s
image as a ‘‘good, clean leader’’.
Contrary to
reports that the inclusion of the Dalit-based Dalit Panthers of
India led by R. Thirumavalavan in the NDA would cut off Vanniya
votes to DMK, a good turnout of voters was seen when the Chief Minister’s
convoy traversed through the Vanniya belt.
While DPI cadres
were seen in good strength in the meetings addressed by Karunanidhi,
the presence of BJP, Tamil Nadu’s second largest party in the
NDA, could be hardly felt.
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