Ahead of TN polls, DMK launches campaign to highlight 'AIADMK's misrule,' set tone for Stalin's electioneering

DMK said the campaign that will last for 75 days will cover 15,000 km, witness 1,500 meetings, 500 local events and 10 lakh direct interactions

Tamil Nadu's principal Opposition, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, kicked-off a 75-day-long campaign on Friday that will take 15 senior leaders and speakers of the party across the state to “highlight 10 years of AIADMK's misrule” and to listen to people's grievances.

Campaign Vidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Kural (Stalin's Voice Towards A New Dawn) was launched by Udhayanidhi Stalin—youth wing secretary and son of party chief M K Stalin—at Thirukuvalai, the birthplace of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, in Nagapattinam district in the Cauvery delta region.

However, Udhayanidhi was detained by police for violating Covid-19 rules and was released later.

Kanimozhi, secretary of DMK's women's wing, will launch her campaign from Edappadi, the home constituency of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in Salem district, on November 29.

Kanimozhi and Udhayanidhi will cover all 234 Assembly constituencies, while 13 others, some of whom are veteran DMK leaders, will cover 15 constituencies each during their tour.

The DMK said the campaign, which will last for 75 days, will cover 15,000 kms, witness 1,500 meetings, 500 local events and 10 lakh direct interactions.

The campaign has been devised in a way to set the tone for Stalin's electioneering, which is expected to begin in January. The DMK, which is occupying the Opposition benches in the Tamil Nadu Assembly since 2011, is leaving no stone unturned to win the Assembly elections due in the first half of 2021.

Sources in the DMK told DH that the campaign will have eight ingredients that include leaders having their lunch at one of the houses in Samathuvapuram, a locality that houses people from all communities of the village; meeting a party veteran; street-corner meetings; visit to a historical place; and discussions with NGOs that work for the people.

The main focus is to present a “charge sheet” against the AIADMK government and highlight the failures of the dispensation that is in power for the past 10 years, a senior leader said.

“We will meet people in their villages and towns. Most of the meetings will be in an informal set-up. The main focus is to interact with people and get to know their problems and priorities. We will criticise the AIADMK and highlight their failures and at the same time we will also ask people to tell what they expect from us,” the leader added.

Four of the five deputy general secretaries—K Ponmudi, I Periyasamy, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, and Anthiyur Selvaraj—MPs Tiruchi N Siva, Dr S Senthilkumar, and Thamizhachi Thangapandian, are some of the prominent leaders who are part of the campaign. The fifth deputy general secretary, A Raja, is likely to be made in-charge of a zone.

The leaders will travel in a specially designed propaganda vehicle and distribute pamphlets that will speak in detail about the “failures of the AIADMK government,” another leader said.