TIRUCHY: As campaigners reach out to voters, two women of different ages and background – 75-year-old Periyammal and 29-year-old Radha Niranjani – are drawing people’s attention as they go about canvassing votes in different constituencies.
Both, Periyammal, mother of VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan, and Niranjani, daughter of AMMK candidate Sarubala Thondaiman, have otherwise kept out of the humdrum of politics, leave alone electioneering. But now they are there in the thick of action, one for her son and the other for her mother, leaving onlookers staring in awe and wonder.
Their foray as campaigners in Chidambaram constituency, where Thirumavalavan is contesting under the pot symbol as a candidate of the DMK-Congress alliance, and in Tiruchy where Thondaiman, a descendent of the erstwhile Pudukottai royal family, is fighting it out as an AMMK candidate, is also making waves at the ground level.
While the ‘princess’, as the local people address Niranjani with reverence, is largely concentrating on Pudukkottai and Gandharvakottai Assembly segments with the mother busy meeting voters in Tiruchy, Periyammal has been canvassing votes for her son in Ariyalur district for the past five days.
Niranjani, who otherwise manages her family estates in Kodaikkanal, came over to Pudukkottai and started visiting small villages to interact with the people on the streets and also at agricultural fields. Most of the people are happy to know that they were speaking with a real ‘princess.’
Speaking to Express, Niranjani said, “Most of the schools and colleges situated in Pudukkottai, were established during my forefathers’ administrative period under the British. I feel it is the duty of my family to serve the people of this soil.”
She further said, “While canvassing votes, I tell the people how my mother developed Tiruchy when she served as the Mayor there. I explain to them about her administrative skills and what she has done to Tiruchy as the Mayor.”
As Thirumavalavan is bound to go to other constituencies to canvass for VCK and coalition parties, he is left with insufficient time to travel to all the areas and Periyammal is filling in the gap, travelling to small villages left out by her son.
She lives at Anganur village, Thirumavalavan’s native place in Ariyalur, and is travelling to nearby villages in that area. The way she speaks with the people is moving them. She tells the people, “My son has not married and spent all his life working for the people. If he wins, he will not amass wealth as others do, for he has no family of his own.”