TN Lok Sabha election: More star-struck than star-studded contests

Chennai: In the absence of two Dravidian titans M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa for the first time in many years, the ensuing April 18 battle to the 40 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu (39) and Puducherry (one) may see a virtual re-drawing of the 'charisma map' in the minds of the electors.

A day after the two principal Dravidian rivals, DMK and AIADMK announced their candidates for the 20 LS seats each is contesting — DMK heading the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) and AIADMK leading the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state  —  the semantics of 'star contests' seems shifting.

Both the national parties in the respective alliances- Congress in SPA and BJP in NDA- are yet to finalize their candidates, while the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) led by T T V Dhinakaran, who broke away from the AIADMK has announced his first list for 24 Lok Sabha seats, and actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan 'Makkal Neethi Maiyam (MNM)' has said they will contest all seats. Thus a four-cornered contest seems to be inevitable, as battle lines are drawn.

However, what has emerged thus far is that going by the candidates announced by both the DMK and AIADMK — they are directly locked in eight LS seats of South Chennai, Kancheepuram (SC), Tiruvannamalai, Tirunelveli, Mayiladuthurai, Salem, Nilgiris (SC) and Pollachi-, the contests are more 'star-struck' than 'star-studded'.

The reason is not hard to seek. The gallery of prominent faces in both the DMK and AIADMK show the candidates would appeal to the residual fascination their erstwhile leaders have in voters' minds. In other words, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa respectively will be their mascots of appeal, while BJP and Congress candidates would also draw on the charisma of Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi respectively. Rahul's effortless interaction at Stella Maris college here last week is a case in point, making contests more 'star-struck' than star-studded'. There could be exception to this trend as the campaign goes on, say if Kamal Haasan himself decides to contest from Ramanathapuram as his fans want. And for DMDK contestants, Captain Vijayakanth would be the star to look up to.

But for now, this is how the 'starry' batting line-up goes, a mix of the well known, old and new faces in both camps, even as Dhinakaran has sprung a surprise or two in the selection of candidates that could pose a challenge more to AIADMK. And for all the individual candidate's high visibility, caste is still a crucial factor.

In the DMK camp, former Union ministers T. R. Baalu returns to Sriperumbudur constituency, which he won in 2009, where he will be pitted against Vaithiyalingam of PMK (part of NDA) and G Narayanan of AMMK. DMK chief M. K. Stalin played it safe by bringing back the veteran S. S. Planimanickkam to contest from Thanjavur, where TMC (part of NDA) on Monday announced the candidature of N. R. Nadrajan, hailing from another influential 'Mukkulathor' family and P. Murugesan of AMMK, a noted educationist, will be his rivals. In fact TTV also pulled off a surprise in Tiruchy, fielding former mayor Ms Charubala Thondaman, a scion of the royal family of Pudukkottai with Congress roots.

While Ms. Kanimozhi, DMK Rajya Sabha MP, whose tenure ends in July, is running for Lok Sabha for first time from Thoothukudi, a seat allotted to BJP, Dayanidhi Maran gets back his old Central Chennai and former Telecom minister A Raja will again try his luck from Nilgiris, pitted against AIADMK's Thyagarajan and AMMK's M. Ramasamy. The DMK has also chosen to keep two other Chennai seats for itself - fielding poetess Thamizhachi Thangapandian in South Chennai, and party veteran Arcot Veerasamy's son Kalanidhi Veerasami for North Chennai-.

Another literary figure in the race this time is Su. Venkatesan, the Sahitya Akademi Award winner whom DMK's ally, the CPI(M) has chosen for Madurai seat. Another former Union Minister of DMK, Jagathrakshakan is being played off against PMK's former Union Minister, A K Moorthy, in Arakkonam, part of the OBC Vanniyar belt in north Tamil Nadu. Late Murasoli Maran's protégé in the DMK, Dr Ponmudi's son Gautham Sigamani has been given the Kallakurichi seat and DMK Treasurer Durai Murugan's son Kadhir Anand the Vellore constituency, where the latter takes on A C Shanmugham of New Justice Party (part of NDA).

The prominent faces in the AIADMK are led by Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai, who gets to re-contest from Karur, Deputy CM O. Pannerselvam's son P. Raveedhra Kumar for Theni, minister D. Jayakumar's son and sitting MP, K. Jayavardhan for South Chennai, Agri Krishnamurthy from Tiruvannamalai, K. P. Munusamy, who led a strident anti-Sasikala campaign after 'Amma's demise, from Krishnagiri, and the last but not least, former Speaker P. H. Pandian's son, Manoj Pandian to contest from Tirunelveli. Sudheesh, deputy general secretary of DMDK (part of NDA) will be contesting from Kallakurichi.

For the CPI, both the communist veterans are back in action, K. Subbaroyan (Tirupur) where he takes on former AIADMK minister M. Anandan, and Selvaraj (Nagapattinam), while CPI(M) has retained P. R. Natarajan for Coimbatore. The PMK's most visible face, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss will re-contest from Dharmapuri and Dalit leader Dr K. Krishnasamy from Tenkasi (both part of NDA). The other well known Dalit leader, Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK) gets back his favourite reserved constituency of Chidambaram and SRM University chancellor Parivendhar (IJK) from Perambalur (both as part of DMK-led alliance). For the MDMK, allotted one seat by DMK, the self-effacing former MP A. Ganeshamurthy from the Gounder community, is running again for the Erode seat.