DMK Eyeing Cong Stronghold Ooty Constituency?
Ooty and Congress are synonymous as the grand old party is deeply anchored in this hill constituency for the past five decades, of course, in alliance with the DMK and AIADMK during different elections, besides going it alone twice.
OOTY: Ooty Assembly constituency proved to be a ‘sitting pretty’ seat for the Congress for the past five decades, but the DMK functionaries and cadre now show interest to contest there this election.
Ooty and Congress are synonymous as the grand old party is deeply anchored in this hill constituency for the past five decades, of course, in alliance with the DMK and AIADMK during different elections, besides going it alone twice.
Post-Emergency, the party contested alone in 1977 and 1989 and romped home in 1989. In the 1984, 1991 and 1996 and in 2001 Assembly elections, the Congress aligned with the AIADMK and won all the elections except in 1996. In the 1980, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 it contested in alliance with the DMK and won four times, except in 2011 wherein it went down narrowly to the AIADMK.
The 1989 elections saw the Congress go it alone and made the Dravidian majors bite the dust. Data shows that except in 1996 and 2011, the Congress did well in the AIADMK and DMK alliance in the constituency.
As Congress-DMK alliance is confirmed, it is widely perceived that the national party will get Ooty again and its MLA, R. Ganesh, may contest again to make it three in a row for him as he had been representing the constituency since 2016.
However, DMK functionaries and cadre would like the party high command to pitch for Ooty to enable DMK aspirants contest from this constituency as the DMK last contested here in 1996 and won with a handsome margin.
But, it looks like the Congress is in no mood to give up its hold on Ooty.