Madurai: Elections and sentiments always go together for political parties in the land of Periyar who had propagated rationalism. Masthanpatti in Madurai has such overwhelming sentiments embedded in it. With a pre-election rally by AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in the venue forming the base for her to wrest the southern segments from the DMK in the 2011 assembly polls, the party has chosen the same place for her March 28 meeting.
Widely considered auspicious for ambitious political events, Masthanpatti along the Ring Road has long been the favourite choice of parties. It was in this locality the merger of G.K. Vasan led Tamil Maanila Congress with its parent party happened in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi way back in 2002.
Later, the UPA government’s ambitious Sethusamudram shipping canal project launch in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ms Sonia Gandhi and DMK president M. Karunanidhi participated took place with much fanfare in 2005. Though the scheme got mired in controversies and failed to fructify, it yielded quite a ‘bonanza’ for its architects besides turning into an evergreen poll issue.
Then, the AIADMK, which was at that time in the Opposition, handpicked a nearby site owned by a party man for a mega protest meeting addressed by Jayalalithaa on October 17, 2010, six months ahead of the Assembly polls, after the DMK-headed civic body denied permission for Tamukkam grounds. The crowd swelled and she slammed the DMK and its then strongman M.K.Alagiri for his “misdeeds”.
“The meeting laid a strong foundation for our leader to recapture her southern citadel,” says a functionary. Moreover, Jayalalithaa steered the party to victory in 33 out of the 37 seats it contested in the south and ensured the DMK and its allies lost all the 10 constituencies in Madurai district.
State minister Natham R. Viswanathan said, “This is a lucky venue. It set the tone for a change of guard in the state. It is going to demonstrate once again that our amma will capture the seat of power in Delhi.”
