CHENNAI: The message is clear. DMK wants to stand and win in almost all the constituencies where it can triumph alone, and regain the bastions lost to the AIADMK over the years, especially in Chennai.
DMK is contesting in 15 out of the 16 constituencies in Chennai this time and will take AIADMK head-on in 10 seats.
Even though the capital city has sent late DMK leader M Karunanidhi to the assembly from various constituencies - Chepauk, Anna Nagar, Saidapet, and Harbour - the party was not able to get a hold of all the constituencies.
While 13 constituencies in the city show a strong anti-incumbency in voting patterns for every five years, DMK has not been able to win in three constituencies for at least 20 years - Royapuram, RK Nagar, and Mylapore. In all these three constituencies, DMK last won in 1996 and have ever since remained an AIADMK stronghold.
With renewed vigor and fresh faces in all these three constituencies, the party will now try to fix the missing puzzles and regain its hold in Chennai.
Even though RK Nagar was won by independent candidate TTV Dhinakaran in by-poll years ago defeating local leader Madusudanan, the constituency largely has been an AIADMK bastion sending the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa to the assembly two times.
The DMK candidate had lost deposit during the RK Nagar by-poll while in Royapuram, the party gave the seat to Congress for the last two elections.
To counter the popularity of Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, DMK in a surprise move has fielded ‘iDream’ Murthy, a businessman and theatre baron, who owns the popular iDreams theatre in North Chennai, which is preferred by families.
A DMK cadre from Royapuram, where the party was founded in 1949, says that the party never showed interest to strengthen this constituency before. “They gave it to Congress who lost here both the times. No local DMK leader was nurtured here. At least now, they can build a local base here,” he said.
Similarly, the DMK did not have a popular candidate in RK Nagar as well. Now they have fielded the party’s North Chennai youth wing organizer JJ Ebenezer, against AIADMK’s RS Rajesh, who unsuccessfully contested the Perambur by-poll in 2019.
DMK’s North Chennai District Incharge, Ilaya Aruna, said that the party will bounce back and reclaim the constituencies from AIADMK. “There is a Stalin wave and we will see a massive change here this time,” he told TNIE.
In Mylapore, the party has also fielded ‘Mylai’ Velu against AIADMK’s incumbent MLA Natraj. Local cadre said that Velu was born and brought up in the constituency and he did a lot of social service during the pandemic. “He will get vote from all sections,” said the functionary.
Meanwhile, DMK would also fancy reclaiming the new constituencies Avadi and Ambattur from AIADMK which holds the seats for a decade now.
In 2016, Tamil language Minister K Pandiaraj won in Avadi with a margin of just 1300 votes to SM Nasser of DMK. The duo will face off again in 2021.