Bypolls: TVK Targets AIADMK-DMK Ties, Palaniswami Attacks Vijay

Chennai: With a week to go for the end of the election campaign for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram by-polls, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s campaign has put the spotlight on POCSO cases against industrialist Veeramani, alleging collusion between the DMK and AIADMK and development of the constituencies.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami is charging the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) with buying its MLAs and forcing an election while DMK president M.K. Stalin is yet to commence his campaign. Joseph Vijay’s public meeting in Madurantakam has lifted his party’s prospects and his party functionaries are optimistic that their leader’s roadshow on Oct. 2 will seal the fight in TVK’s favour. Dharapuram remains a tight contest but Joseph Vijay, Stalin and Palaniswami have conserved their energies to target the Kongu constituency in the final phase of the campaign next week.

Law minister C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar, addressing the media at Madurai on Sunday, started from where his leader left on the issue of AIADMK’s collusion with the DMK. Two days after Joseph Vijay reasoned that the AIADMK MLAs quit the party and joined the TVK since Palaniswami tried to join hands with the DMK and form a government, Nirmal Kumar cited the AIADMK leader’s speeches in Madurantakam.

Nirmal Kumar said Palaniswami is praising the DMK’s rule openly and backing the DMK government, leading to doubts if he is canvassing votes for the AIADMK or the DMK. The AIADMK is not touching the granite Veeramani case resulting in questions if party’s charismatic leaders MGR and J. Jayalalithaa could have left such an atrocity untouched, he said. Senior leaders like S.P. Velumani and C.V. Shanmugam are not with Palaniswami due to his indirect links with the DMK, he charged.

The AIADMK’s by-poll campaign hinges on its allegation that its MLAs were bought by the TVK and made to resign, forcing a by-poll. Palaniswami’s allegations of betrayal of the party by MLAs who crossed over to the TVK is countered by Joseph Vijay and his party by projecting Palaniswami as DMK’s friend and betrayer of the legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa. An AIADMK win alone will vindicate its stand, but a defeat will endorse Vijay’s charge encouraging more defections from the AIADMK.

The TVK is also promising to fulfil the demands of the constituencies effectively using its position as the ruling party which alone could develop the constituencies. The by-polls is very important for the TVK as a win would increase the number of its seats to 109 and the party could reach the magic number of 118 in the 234-member Assembly with the support of Congress, VCK and IUML. When the results are declared, the total number of MLAs will reach 229 including the Speaker and 115 seats will be sufficient for a majority.

For the DMK which is relying on door-to-door campaigning and addressing the voters from campaign vehicles, a win in the by-polls will help it to portray the TVK’s show in the Assembly elections as just a flash in the pan. The party could start a campaign that the TVK had lost the people’s confidence in just four months of rule, besides claiming to be the real alternative for the TVK and boost the morale of party cadre and functionaries.