Criticism and trolls are not new to Naam Tamilar Katchi chief Seeman. He is someone who has always faced criticism head-on over the years. Yesterday, in Vellore, Seeman shared his thoughts about his critics and trolls.
With a bit of sarcasm, the director-turned-politician mentioned that he likes his trolls more than his party cadres.
Seeman said, "I have more love for people who criticize me more than that for NTK cadres. Even the cadres in the party don't think about me as much as the trolls. Every day when they put out derogatory remarks about me (on social media) on regular intervals. The trolls think about me 24*7. I even feel that they (trolls) are more concerned about me than my wife."
For the last few days, Seeman has been busy campaigning for Vellore NTK MP candidate S Deepalakshmi.
As many as 14.32 lakh voters will be sealing the fate 28 candidates, prominent among them are AC Shanmugam of AIADMK and DM Kathir Anand of DMK, seeking the mandate. Naam Tamilar Katchi's S Deepalakshmi is also facing the polls with a slogan of change. The polling is scheduled for August 5.
This Vellore election will be a litmus test for NTK, who have been on a steady rise. The party garnered a total of 16.67 lakh votes gaining an overall vote share of 3.8% in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The female candidates contributed more than 50% of the tally, polling a total of 8,38,329 votes.
Interestingly, in the 19 constituencies where the NTK fielded female candidates, they have managed to secure more votes than the candidates fielded by Kamal Haasan’s party.
Initially, when the NTK decided to implement the 50% quota for women, it was not seen as a vote-gaining strategy. Many experts were dismissive of the move. With positive results, Seeman’s decision has met with success and could likely mark the start of a new trend.
(With inputs from ENS)