Absence of Captain raises eyebrows

In fact, after the recently concluded Assembly elections in May, the DMDK leader was not too visible or vocal in any of the key issues concerning the state. Even when the EC announced the dates for the elections in three constituencies, there was no announcement whether his party would field candidates or not. There was no sign of any movement from his party’s side towards the PWF either Sources in the DMDK said that he has been active and giving instructions to the cadre, while some say that he was upset with drubbing in the 2016 Assembly polls. 

Going by the present scenario, the DMDK had distanced itself from many activities, including the ongoing Cauvery issue, in the state. Vijayakant has only been issuing statements on the Cauvery row and there had been no other activity even when the issue was at its peak in the State. A proof this fact is that the DMDK was nowhere visible in the twoday rail blockade agitation called by farmers over Cauvery issue even as othe political parties like DMK, Congress, TMC and PWF attended the protest. When all the party leaders condemned Karnataka on Cauvery row publicly, Vijayakant did not utter a single word and remained mute spectator. In another case, when the State Election Commission conducted an all-party meet on civic polls, not a single leader from the DMDK turned up. However, the party claimed that they were working for civic elections. Even the party did not release the names of candidates.

A Marx, a political critic, said that the rout in 2016 assembly elections dealt a rude blow to the DMDK and that could be one of the reasons for the party president to maintain a low profile. “Further, the DMDK is not a political outfit, but a family party and if the same situation continues, it will vanish from the State politics in the future,” he said and added that the cadre across the state were thoroughly disappointed over the style of the functioning of their party leader. 

Denying any such crisis in the party, Nallathambi, state deputy youth wing secretary, DMDK, told DTNext, “Captain is here only and very active. He comes to the party office every day at 11 am and leaves at 10.30 pm. Further, he is giving instructions to the cadre on how to work for the civic polls.” When asked why Vijayakant was avoiding public meetings, the senior functionary replied “when there is a necessity, he will certainly come.”

To a specific question on the elections to the three seats, the youth wing leader replied in the negative alleging that there was a possibility of all kinds of malpractice again. Regarding the party’s silence on Cauvery row, he claimed that the DMDK would hold a protest separately.