The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), led by S Ramadoss, has started work for the 2014 general elections, with cadre going all-out to woo the party’s traditional vote bank — the Vanniyars. The party is going to the extent of putting pictures of the slain forest brigand Veerappan, who belonged to the caste, on posters and publicity material that have come up across the district in the last few days. Pictures of Veerappan are placed alongside senior party leaders S Ramadoss, Anbumani Ramadoss and ‘Kaduvetti’ Guru.
The posters were put up as part of the ‘martyr’s day’ celebrations of the party, in commemoration of the 21 members of the Vanniyar Sangam, who died during an agitation demanding reservations for Vanniyars, in 1987. Apart from carrying images of the brigand holding a gun and striking a majestic pose, captions read: ‘Vanniyan Da (We are the Vanniyars)’.
The party’s emotive appeal to the caste, said to be numerically superior in the district, is in resonance with the party’s senior leader, Anbumani’s speech at a recent function in the town. The leader had urged the gathering to appeal to the Vanniyars belonging to the other political parties of the State, to cast their vote in favour of the PMK. “The next CM must be a Vanniyar,” he had said, a statement that was met with resounding applause.
Reiterating the stand, senior party leader and former minister A K Moorthy said the party would go all-out to seek the votes of the Vanniyars, which has an approximate population of 2.5 crore in the State. “We would also reach out to the ‘hidden’ Vanniyars of TN, who are presently aligned with other parties.” He added that the party would contest from at least 20 LS constituencies in the upcoming elections.
However, Moorthy sought to clarify that the party had not appealed to the cadre to put up images of Veerappan. Speaking to Express, he said, “It is likely that his images figure on the posters as he is a Vanniyar. Neither do we have anything to do with it, nor do we ask cadre to do so. Periyar, Karl Marx and Ambedkar are our guiding leaders,” the former minister said. Explaining further, he said, the fact that he once instilled fear among the administration itself could be behind his deification.