Chennai: DMK ticket aspirants and their supporters from Erode, who visited the party headquarters here for candidates selection interview for the Assembly elections, are keen on an alliance with actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK who has a good base in the district.
Some of the ticket seekers and their supporters were seen eagerly discussing the possibility of Vijayakanth joining hands with their party and a few enquired about DMDK’s likely move with the waiting mediapersons. The reasons for their eagerness for an electoral understanding with actor Vijayakanth is not a tough riddle to break.
In the 2009 parliamentary elections, the last time when DMDK contested alone, it had polled between 10 and 13 per cent votes in the eight constituencies of the textile hub. The AIADMK which aligned with DMDK in 2011 Assembly elections, swept the polls winning all the seats.
The ruling party which went alone in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections polled between 40 and 45 per cent votes in the eight Assembly segments in Erode. On the contrary, the DMK did not cross the 25 per cent votes in six seats and secured less than 20 per cent in three of them.
A party functionary from Modakurichi said, “Even if Vijayakanth did not join our alliance, it will be better if he avoided the People’s Welfare Front. The MDMK still has a good presence in the district and Vaiko’s party will have a chance of revival if Vijayakanth aligned with it. Such a revival will not be good for Vijayakanth too.”
In the 2014 parliamentary elections, when both the MDMK and DMDK were in the NDA, DMK was pushed to the third spot in six of the eight Assembly segments in Erode.
The PMK has a good presence in Bhavani and Anthiyur where DMDK polled more votes than DMK. DMK’s former district secretary, A Ganeshamurthy, who walked out with Vaiko and contested on the MDMK ticket, occupied the second place in three of the segments where neither PMK nor the BJP has any notable presence.
The aspirants were seen divided between different camps within the DMK. Besides former minister N.K.K.P. Raja, functionaries belonged to the factions of former ministers Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and S. Muthusamy .
Partymen from the Nilgiris seemed to be more hopeful and asserted they would win both the seats — Gudalur and Coonoor — in the hills and the fight will be equal in the two seats in the plains.
