Chennai
In fact, it has only increased of late. From campaigning and addressing party rallies, Udhayanidhi has now taken up serious politicking like wooing community representatives in the state. His ‘progress’ was evident from the Stalin junior visiting deceased PMK strongman ‘Kaduvetti’ Guru’s residence in Cuddalore a few days ago.
Udhayanidhi, who is among the 20 prominent party workers addressing rallies across the state, had called on the family of the deceased PMK heavyweight, understandably, to increase the likeability of the party among Vanniyar community, who are the core vote bank of Dr Ramadoss’ PMK, which is in AIADMK alliance.
Received by Guru’s son Kanalarasan and son-in-law Manoj, Udhayanidhi along with former DMK MLA SS Sivasankar had spent substantial time at Guru’s residence. Not so long ago, the DMK youth wing secretary had hosted Kanalarasan at his residence in Chennai, where the former PMK leader’s son was understood to have vowed support to the DMK in the coming Assembly poll.
The DMK youth wing secretary’s newfound role bore instant success, thanks to Kanalarasan who had prepared the ground by visiting Vanniyar dominant villages in his turf ahead of the Stalin junior’s visit, much to the chagrin of the PMK top brass who are unhappy over the changing loyalties.
Udhayanidhi was also learnt to be in touch with similar caste strongmen in other communities in western and southern Tamil Nadu. A DMK senior unwilling to be named admitted to his youth wing secretary reaching out to vulnerable members in rival camps and said the move has also lent credence to the belief among party men that the leadership considers the existing alliance as strong and it was ready to go without any new comers like PMK. “We have a strong presence among Vanniyars already. This will only strengthen us in the northern districts, which were responsible for us not toppling the incumbent government after the Assembly bypolls in 2019.
Even a little set back to the PMK in the north could swing it for us. He could engage disgruntled leaders from rival camps in western TN soon,” the DMK senior reasoned, adding that the youth wing secretary could be engaged in more serious political business in the months to come.
‘AIADMK has pledged TN to BJP to hide corruption’
The AIADMK government has pledged all the rights of Tamil Nadu to the BJP led Centre as the latter is having the list of corrupt Ministers, said DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin in Ariyalur during his campaign on Thursday.
Udhayanidhi said that the list of corrupt Ministers is with the BJP and so the AIADMK government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has been supporting whatever project brought out by the Centre just to please them. “The late chief minister J Jayalalithaa opposed every project that affected the state. She also strongly opposed the NEET for medical admission as she was aware that the exam will prevent the students from the rural areas to get medical seats,” Udhayanidhi said. “So far 15 medical aspirants committed suicide against the NEET and it is not a suicide but murder executed by both the BJP and AIADMK,” he said.
He pointed out that there were negotiations made for releasing the mortal remains of Minister R Doraikannu. “Even they made money over the prevention activities of COVID 19,” he added. Earlier, Udhayanidhi opened the DMK district office and unveiled the statue of M Karunanidhi. Subsequently, he interacted with the booth level committee members. Later, he campaigned in several places in the district.
Referring to the list of Ministers handed over by Stalin to Governor, Udhayanidhi said, “It included the corruption charges against the Chief Minister to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore on road contract.” He appealed to the people to teach them a fitting lesson in the upcoming Assembly polls.
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