Selvaraj’s whirlwind tour gives jitters to DMK heavyweights

Selvaraj, who is all smiles because of the important duty assigned to him by AIADMK, sees this as a chance to gain a strong foothold in his new home. 

Some remarks made by Health Minister C Vijayabaskar in November, against a panchayat union chairperson, who belonged to the Mutharayar community, and her husband, a former AIADMK functionary, did not go down well with the members of the community in Tiruchy, Pudukkottai and Thanjavur where they have a sizable presence. The minister came in for a sharp criticism by the entire community in the region. 

While Vijayabaskar has managed to get a party ticket for the Viralimalai constituency from where he was elected in the last election, to wipe out the negative image caused by the minister and to boost the prospects of the party in the central districts, the AIADMK has vested former DMK minister N Selvaraj with the responsibility of placating the members of his community. As part of this plan, Selvaraj has been assigned to campaign in Pudukkottai, Tiruchy and Thanjavur. 

Buoyed by the big job, Selvaraj is now on a whirlwind tour across these districts and vigorously campaigning for AIADMK. Sources close to Selvaraj confirmed that his campaign is definitely making a good impact with Mutharayars relenting on their stand and turning up in large numbers for the rallies and wayside meetings addressed by the former minister. “This has created a positive energy in the AIADMK camp,” said a cadre. Though there is good crowd, the result of the task given to Selvaraj will be known only after the election.

Besides mustering support for the AIADMK, Selvaraj has some personal agenda too in this campaign. That is, he volunteered to campaign for the Chief Whip R Manoharan in Tiruchy West segment where his arch rival former minister K N Nehru is contesting on a DMK ticket. Selvaraj threw words of wrath against Nehru and vowed to defeat him by all means and so has been allotting time to campaign against the DMK heavyweight. Nehru too, probably realising the influence of Selvaraj among the Mutharayars, has started accelerating his work to counter the AIADMK plan.