LS polls: Daughters are the new vote getters for high profile candidates
The karai veshti or even denim clad politicians have tried everything in their arsenal till the last week of the campaign in Tamil Nadu which goes for polls on April 19.
Graphical Representation of TN Lok Sabha polls 2024
CHENNAI: Elections have always brought out the innovative minds of the political parties and their candidates.
From preparing and sipping tea on a roadside tea shop to slicing fish like a Michelin star Chef's perfection in a local fish market, the high and mighty of politics, and of course the ambitious independents, have always been at their entertaining best to win the hearts of the voters.
The April 19 Lok Sabha election is no exception to it either.
The karai veshti or even denim clad politicians have tried everything in their arsenal till the last week of the campaign in Tamil Nadu which goes for polls on April 19.
However, an addition to the campaign this time has been the influx of 'daughters' in the campaign trail.
Some of the star candidates in the fray have got their educated daughters to go door to door seeking votes.
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss whose wife Sowmya is the party candidate in Dharmapuri was the first this poll season to get his daughter to campaign for her mother.
Be it sporting flowers on their hair braids or getting 'bindi' applied on their forehead, hitherto largely unseen daughters of the Anbumani-Sowmya couple have been walking the extra mile on the streets of Dharmapuri to get their mother past the post.
Taking a cue from his erstwhile Parliament colleague, former union minister Dayanidhi Maran of DMK also got his daughter to traverse the streets of Central Chennai on an open campaign van to attempt to ensure his re-election.
Actor Sarathkumar who merged his party with the BJP and eventually got his wife actor Radhika fielded in Virudhunagar is busy riding a motorcycle to impress the voters.
A few other leaders have also got their family members to hit the campaign trail.
Though it is not unfamiliar to see family members hit the campaign trail, mostly in support of the alpha male of the family, the influx of young daughters is a strange addition this time.
Not so long ago, Chief Minister Stalin's wife Durga also hit the campaign in their locale for her VIP husband.
In the distant past, Dravidian stalwart M Karunanidhi's daughter Selvi had also campaigned for her veteran father in Tiruvarur and even in Chennai.
Functionaries of the parties admit that the involvement of the family members, mainly women members help connect with the apolitical voters to an extent.
