CHENNAI: With the campaign for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls ending on Sunday, former chief ministers of the two Dravidian parties made their final appeals to voters. DMK president MK Stalin asked people to look at their electricity and grocery bills before voting, while AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami urged them to punish those who “betrayed the AIADMK and its voters”.
“Before you leave for the polling booth, look at your electricity bill and your ration shop bill, then set out,” Stalin said in his appeal.
In a video message addressed to voters, Stalin sought to turn the bypoll into a referendum on the resignation of the AIADMK MLAs who subsequently joined the ruling TVK, questioning the need for the election barely five months after the Assembly polls.
Stalin also attacked the TVK government over its performance and asked voters to assess the government on issues affecting their daily lives. “From the CM who came here for campaigning down to the ministers, has anyone said they have already given the `2,000 promised for women, or that they have sent you six LPG cylinders? No,” he said.
Palaniswami, in his message, focused on the defections of the former AIADMK MLAs and accused them of betraying the party, its leaders and the voters who had elected them. He alleged that the TVK was attempting to use the bypolls to convert a minority government into a majority government through “secret activities”. He said voters are ready to respond to such moves.
Later in the evening, Palaniswami, in a video message, invoked the Karur stampede while appealing to voters in Madurantakam and Dharapuram to support the AIADMK candidates. “We had their (TVK) interests at heart even during the Karur issue. In return, they are trying to lure away our MLAs. I have come to you seeking justice. Give the verdict yourselves,” he appealed to voters, urging them to teach a lesson to those attempting to “buy” MLAs through horse-trading.
Stalin also posed four questions to the TVK government, alleging that its “reel” of portraying itself as a “pure” administration has unravelled within four months.
In a post on X, Stalin questioned how Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay could project himself as a protector of women while retaining people, accused of sexual violence, as MLAs and district secretaries. Stalin further alleged that money was being distributed to voters in the run-up to the bypolls, asking Vijay to respond to accusations that votes were being “priced” on a street-by-street basis.
He also questioned whether the “horse-trading” by TVK would come to an end or continue into another season.
