DMK’s focus on AIADMK stronghold in Tamil Nadu’s western belt

Stalin’s choice of Salem is part of the DMK’s larger strategy to breach the western belt which is the citadel of the AIADMK.

Tamil Nadu opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader MK Stalin on Saturday launched a state-wide protest from chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s home constituency in Salem in support of agitating farmers in the capital.

File photo: DMK President MK Stalin. (PTI)

Stalin’s choice of Salem is part of the DMK’s larger strategy to breach the western belt which is the citadel of the AIADMK owing to the presence of its strong Gounder community. The DMK swept the 2019 parliamentary elections and penetrated the western region but in the subsequent civic polls, the AIADMK won back the loyalty of its electorate. Performance in this region is crucial for both parties in the run-up to the 2021 assembly polls.

The DMK’s elaborate 75-day campaign on the ground is ongoing with Stalin sending 15 leaders “as his messengers” to “highlight 10 years of misrule by the AIADMK” and hear people’s grievances and their expectations of the DMK, the party said. Stalin’s son and youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin launched this campaign titled, Vidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Kural (Stalin’s voice towards a new dawn) on November 20 in Nagapattinam district’s Thirukkuvalai (in the Cauvery delta region) - the birthplace of DMK patriarch and late former chief minister M Karunanidhi. Nine days later, MP Kanimozhi took the lead from Edappadi in Salem district.

Besides Palaniswami, ministers holding heavyweight portfolios, such as SP Velumani for municipal administration and electricity minister P Thangamani, hail from this region. “These ministers have failed to deliver. But they have some sort of a stronghold and we want to break that,” said a senior DMK leader on condition of anonymity.

DMK’s eight-member election manifesto committee in its first phase has covered 13 districts from Nilgiris to Coimbatore to Krishnagiri along the west coast. “There are several issues in the western belt,” said TKS Elangovan, member of the committee and spokesperson. “Youngsters want employment, most of the grievances came from farmers and industrialists want the periodicity reduced for filing GST.” The party leaders are meeting farmers, fishermen, self-help women’s groups amongst others to address their weaker presence in at least seven western regions as well as their strongholds in delta and southern regions.

“Starting from the bastion of the AIADMK is symbolism than a consolidation strategy,” says political analyst Sriram Seshadri. “DMK has not succeeded in winning the heart of Gounders in the western bloc. The other set of dominant castes is the Naidu community which doesn’t have a representation in any major political party which the DMK is trying to target. But several industrialists seem to be willing to support the BJP.” Last month, BJP along with union minister of state for external affairs, V Muraleedharan, performed a pooja to open the party office in Coimbatore. After the 1998 bomb blasts during LK Advani’s visit in Coimbatore, BJP veteran CP Radhakrishnan was elected twice as MP from here but he failed to retain the seat in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Out of the 20 seats that the AIADMK contested, seven were in western constituencies -Salem, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Erode, Tirupur, Pollachi and the Nilgiris. The DMK contested only four western constituencies but the electorate favourited the DMK which won 38 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats across the state.

The humiliation was greater since the DMK bagged Salem after 39 years. Salem has six assembly segments- Omalur, Edappadi, Salem (West), Salem (East), Salem (North) and Veerapadi. However, in the local body polls held later in the same year, the AIADMK established a clear majority in Salem, Coimbatore, Namakkal and Dharmapuri. In the previous assembly elections in 2011 and 2016, this region had favoured the AIADMK. The ruling government is seen to be pampering the western section with a slew of infrastructure projects including Rs 1,620 crore for Coimbatore-Avinashi elevated expressway which was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to Chennai on November 21.