CHENNAI: With just three months left for the announcement of the parliamentary elections, most political outfits are gearing up to face the people. Principal Opposition party DMK -- which already proposed Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the ‘national anti-BJP alliance’ -- is now in the process of identifying electoral partners.
The party has appointed 100 in-charges for the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, including one in Puducherry. Their job is to study the ground realities -- about functionaries, cadre, the party’s influence in every segment and eligible candidates. Congress, meanwhile, has started gathering views from the public to prepare its manifesto. It held consultation meetings in Chennai and Tiruchy for the same.
The grand old party is also planning public meetings across the State from January 2, to “create awareness” among the voters on the Rafale deal. The ruling AIADMK is also gearing up for the elections. Though it is yet to finalise on any alliance partners, the district secretaries of the party were called for a meeting at its headquarters recently and were given ‘guidance’ on election works.
DMDK, which was once the principal opposition party in the State, has appointed in-charges for all 234 Assembly segments to ensure poll preparedness. Speaking to Express on the condition of anonymity, a district level secretary said: “The aim is to micro-manage at grassroots level. Leaders have been instructed to carry out voter verification and appoint agents for almost all 65,000 polling booths.”
“We will commence proper election works after our leader Vijayakanth returns from USA, where he has been getting treatment for the last ten days,” the DMDK leader added. GK Vasan and his Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) is busy trying to secure the ‘bicycle’ symbol that was used by his late father GK Moopanar. The party celebrated its fifth anniversary in Ariyalur on December 1, “to motivate its cadre”.
The party will also conduct a State conference in Tirunelveli in the third week of January to motivate young cadres in southern districts, apart from public meetings in Coimbatore and Tiruvannamalai for the Kongu belt supporters.
Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), which is gearing up to test the political waters in the State, has appointed 3 in-charges for each of the 234 Assembly segments. The party is planning to convene a team under its vice-president Mahendran, to identify eligible candidates for all 40 parliamentary segments.
Kamal Hasan has said that his party is engaged in talks with the Congress for an electoral alliance. However, he also said that MNM was ready to contest Lok Sabha polls alone, if needed. TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) is in the process of appointing booth agents across the State.
Pattali Makkal Katchi convened its general body meeting on Sunday where a resolution was passed accusing the BJP -- its ally in 2014 -- for not allotting sufficient funds to Tamil Nadu for disaster relief following Gaja cyclone and Chennai floods. The BJP is also getting ready with Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding at least three video conferences so far with party cadre and booth agents.