CHENNAI: DMK’s second-rung leaders — and their aides — are under siege as party cadres are flooding them with calls and visits in an attempt to grab a party ticket to contest in the upcoming elections.Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, is buzzing with cadre huddled together, plotting strategies to convince second-rung leaders.
The personal assistant of one State functionary complained that he has been struggling to cope with calls over the past 10 days while an aide of a second-rung leader, revealed that his boss has stopped taking phone calls in the past week. “He is using a new number just to avoid the torture, leaving me to handle calls of cadres,” the assistant admitted.
Party sources revealed that 8,000 applications have been received so far seeking tickets to contest in the polls. Of them, over 1,000 have been filed on behalf of senior leaders such as party chief MK Stalin while another 2,000 are from union-level functionaries seeking to register their seniority with the leadership. This leaves 5,000 applications from cadres hoping for a ticket to contest in any of the 234 constituencies.
Given the competition, the cadres are outdoing one another to capture the attention of second-rung leaders. “The whole party believes that it will form the next government. So everyone wants a ticket assuming victory is guaranteed,” explained one functionary from a delta district who has also sought a ticket.Now, every person shortlisted is vying for a ticket with most deciding to camp in Chennai and seek support from influential second-rung leaders. Some leaders have even assured them of tickets in the long-delayed urban local body polls if not in Assembly polls, he added.