CHENNAI: The wresting of the Thirumangalam Assembly constituency by the DMK — : by a whopping 39,266 vote difference — from the AIADMK front could not have happened but for the methodical campaign conducted by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s Madurai-based son M K Azhagiri.
Initially reluctant to don the mantle of campaign manager for the by-election, Azhagiri took to the hustings like fish to water once he was prevailed upon by his younger brother and Local Administration Minister M K Stalin to take up the task.
The campaign manager’s job was the first party work entrusted to him officially by the DMK. Azhagiri, besides functioning as de facto party leader in Madurai since he set up base in the city, earlier spearheaded the by-election campaigns in the Madurai Central and Madurai West constituencies to victory.
So the landslide victory to DMK candidate Latha Athiyaman is a hat-trick for him.
After the announcement of the result, Azhagiri told reporters that the victory was precursor to the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections. But that might turn out to be a day dream, unless Azhagiri was referring to only his domain — Madurai and its surrounding regions. For, expecting him to put in the same amount of work all over the state is impossible.
His day started with meeting party functionaries, after which he would set out to the field and continue working till late in the night. No one knew which area he would be visiting on a particular day.
He chose them at random and checked on grass roots functionaries assigned the task of establishing a rapport with the villagers and maintaining it through regular interaction and also taking care of their needs.
Working with singleminded devotion, Azhagiri did away with internal fighting and made the best use of every party worker. He brought in all top party leaders for the campaign and accompanied those like Stalin and Dayanidhi Maran. But he ensured that no one visited the villages without his knowledge. In fact, none of the party workers were allowed to leave their base — their village — without Azhagiri’s knowledge. Every campaigner was wa tched and the moment he/she tried to leave the place, Azhagiri came to know of it. To supervise the grassroots workers, he deployed his trusted lieutenants.
He put in more work for this by-poll than the two previous ones, which were not as tough as Thirumangalam, a traditional AIADMK stronghold.
AIADMK candidate Muthuramalingam was handpicked by party leader J Jayalalithaa, as he was a former lieutenant of Azhagiri.
Then, there was some dissent within the DMK local leaders and cadre over the selection of Latha Adiyaman as candidate.
But Azhagiri overcame every obstacle and made the party cadre function as one cohesive unit, though in the past he worked against his party candidates in the constituency.
That he managed to pull it off this time is perhaps a time for celebration for his followers. After Congress candidate K S K Rajendran won the Madurai West by-election last year, Azhagiri gifted gold rings and chains to his men. It was then that he made the remark that he was not hankering after any party post. Was he saying that he will work for it? If that is so, he has proved his mettle as an efficient party organiser and campaign manager.