Thiruvarur welcomes its veteran

“There are 18 votes in my family, and all of that have always been for Kalaingar,” asserts Govindarajan.

“We do not look at what he has done or not done for the town. He is from here, and look how he has risen,” he says, referring to DMK president M Karunanidhi.

It is the day after the 92-year-old politician solicited votes for the DMK at a public meeting in his home town Thiruvarur. Govindarajan is at a tea shop on the outskirts of the town and those standing next to him nod vigorously.

That seems to be the sentiment prevalent in the town, the headquarters of the district of the same name located in the Cauvery delta, primarily an agriculture-dependent area.

In the 2011 elections when the DMK, which was in power in the previous five years, had lost to its arch rival, the AIADMK, Karunanidhi defeated the AIADMK candidate by a margin of more than 50,000 votes.

On Monday evening, when he addressed a public gathering at Thiruvarur, the entire length of the road adjacent to the 33-acre Thyagarajaswamy Temple was packed with DMK supporters.

“It is only natural that Karunanidhi draws that kind of a crowd in Thiruvarur,” said the tea shop owner, with a photo of AIADMK leader and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa hanging on the wall behind him.

“Thiruvarur has been a DMK area for two decades, it will go to him,” the shop owner said, “but let us see.”

Thiruvarur district has four constituencies including Thiruthuraipoondi, a traditionally CPI stronghold; Mannargudi which went with DMK in 2011 but was previously with the CPI; and Nannilam, which has, in the last two decades, been a mixed bag with CPI, TMC or the AIADMK being voted to power.

At the meeting itself Karunanidhi’s allies including EVKS Elangovan of the Congress made an emotional appeal underlining the rich experience of Karunanidhi, who has been Tamil Nadu Chief Minister five times.

Karunanidhi himself directed his criticism at his arch rival Jayalalithaa and accused her government of inefficiency. He urged the people not to fall prey to money power.

A CBI inquiry is needed to tackle the “cash for votes” issue in the State, he said.

Following up on this, the Congress and DMK has petitioned the Election Commission to “order an independent probe by CBI into this issue and also involve Enforcement Directorate to conduct thorough search of the places belonging to AIADMK Ministers and their supporters.”