They are allies of a national party but that is not helping them stick together for the electoral battle. There is no chemistry between the cadre of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
This has become increasingly evident during the election campaigns in Arni, Arakkonam and Tiruvannamalai constituencies, where the PMK candidates are in the fray.
Sulking cadre of the DMDK are staying away from the campaign even after their party leader Vijayakant canvassed for the alliance in Arcot in Arakkonam constituency and Tiruvannamalai. The actor-turned-politician had sent a clear message to the functionaries of the PMK and his own cadre to put aside their differences and work together to uproot the Congress-led UPA government and make Narendra Modi the next Prime Minister in the April 24 polls.
Even the PMK leader Dr Ambumani Ramadoss exhorted his cadre to team up with the allies for the victory of the party candidates. However, the message of both the party leaders has failed to yield a positive response among the functionaries at the grassroots level.
The DMDK cadre have been conspicuous by their absence during canvassing for votes for the PMK. Except at Vijayakant’s election campaign in Tiruvannamalai on March 26, the DMDK and PMK functionaries were not seen in each other’s company elsewhere.
The scenario is the same in Arakkonam where the former Union Minister R Velu has been fielded by the PMK.
Though the district-level party functionaries of the two allies were following the diktat of their parties’ leaders, the cadre and workhorses of the two parties are finding it difficult to work together.
Political observers called these two parties the most unlikely partners under one roof.
“We are campaigning for the victory of our alliance that is led by our party leader Vijayakant. We are canvassing for votes to make Modi the next Prime Minister,” said a DMDK party State executive committee member from Tiruvannamalai, downplaying the PMK party and its cadres’ lukewarm response.
However, A K Murthy, PMK candidate for Arni, said, “We are campaigning together. There are no differences among us.”