DMK planning to draw DMDK voters into its fold

CHENNAI: With actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK crumbling after the Assembly election debacle, the DMK has chalked up plans to strengthen itself in the northern region before the local body elections by absorbing the voters of the party into its fold. Merging the Makkal DMDK with DMK will be an invitation to all Vijayakanth’s fans and voters to move to DMK.

Besides, the services of the former DMDK leaders will be used to establish contact to draw other partymen too. When DMDK broke into the electoral arena in Tamil Nadu, it established itself as the third biggest party in Tamil Nadu and its share in the northern districts was higher than the rest of the state. In the same region, the party faced a rout in this year’s Assembly polls as it was able to get even the third position in only eight out of the 89 seats in the region.

Following the disastrous results, the functionaries of the party are flocking towards other parties and the DMK is aiming to make the most of the situation to strengthen its vote bank.

Political analyst A. Marx too shares the perception that DMDK is falling apart and office-bearers themselves are running away. “DMDK functionaries are moving away from the party in large numbers due to the inexperience and lack of guidance by  Vijayakanth, who has allowed his wife Premalatha and brother-in-law Sudeesh to take key decisions for the party. Senior leaders like ‘Panruti’ S. Ramachandran quit the party as the actor ignored such leaders and gave importance to his relatives. Nepotism has hit the party hard and which is facing trouble after the electoral debacle.”

The DMDK’s trouble could be handy for DMK which is aiming to reap the benefits. The DMK has won 49 of 89 seats in north Tamil Nadu, but keeping its flag high in the same region will be a hard task in the local body polls as voters tend to opt for the ruling party in civic body elections. To even out the likely gains for the ruling AIADMK which is too keen to keep the local bodies under its belt, the DMK needs to muster more support. The DMK’s existing ally, Congress, did not show any presence in the northern region where it drew a blank in the Assembly polls.

The PMK which proved that its vote share is intact is firm on going it alone in the local body elections too. In such a scenario, absorption of the scattering votes of Vijayakanth will be useful to the party to take on the AIADMK in the area.