Tamil Nadu: DMK gets ready for 2021 polls; constitutes manifesto committee

Elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly are seven months away but the principal Opposition, DMK, seems unwilling to take any chances. The party on Sunday constituted an 8-member committee to prepare the election manifesto for the assembly elections due in the first half of 2021.

The committee headed by party treasurer T R Baalu will have A Raja, ‘Tiruchi’ N Siva, Anthiyur P Selvaraj, Kanimozhi, and T K S Elangovan, all members of Parliament, and Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and Prof. A. Ramasamy.

DMK, which has been out of power in Tamil Nadu for the past 9 years, is leaving no stone unturned to emerge victorious this election. The party also launched an online membership drive, besides ramping up its presence on social media.

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“The committee will visit all districts in the state and interact with a cross-section of people and elicit their views. And that is the reason why the committee has been constituted much early. We will meet intellectuals, party cadres, activists, and the general public during our visits,” Elangovan, one of the members of the committee and Rajya Sabha MP, told DH.

The committee would take four months to complete visiting all 37 districts of the state and the report would be ready only by February or March. “Manifesto should reflect the aspirations of the people and that is why DMK gives importance to the document. This has been the DMK’s policy,” added Elangovan.

The party has hired election strategist Prashant Kishor for its campaign, even as Stalin has begun his election work by interacting with party cadre via video conferencing apps almost on a regular basis.