Perfect play by CM to please people and region, but veterans miss Jayalalithaa’s charisma

The Chief Minister was campaigning for the NDA candidate contesting from north Chennai. However, there was no major traffic jam or diversions in the city and the political rallies of the AIADMK witnessed a marginal turnout.

The AIADMK leader was on a three-day campaign trail which he commenced on Monday. However, party old-timers admit that the usual fervour that would be visible during former CM J Jayalalithaa’s campaign, was missing now.

“The late AIADMK supremo had an image larger than her life and every cadre is now missing the charismatic leader,” admitted Ku Sreenivasan, a former MLA. “The simple approach of the CM is an advantage to us and DMK candidate Dayanidhi Maran is a non-performer in this constituency. This will help our alliance partner to garner more votes,” he claimed.

To his credit, Palaniswami has developed versatility and his ability to change his public addresses according to the region and audience he was addressing. For instance, on Monday while canvassing votes for the AIADMK front at Elephant Gate, which has a predominant north Indian population, the CM stressed on how Narendra Modi was a strong PM candidate. “Only Modi can assure strong national security,” EPS said inviting loud applause from the north Indian population.

However, in Chintadripet and Triplicane, where Muslims and fishermen are in big numbers, the CM highlighted the AIADMK’s concern for the minorities and the poor.

In Choolai on Tuesday, Palaniswami during an interaction with school students and their parents, chose to speak about the laptop schemes and how Jayalalithaa executed the distribution of 57 lakh laptops to students from poor families.

He also connected with the women voters by raising the frequent increase of cable TV tariff. “Dayanidhi Maran family owns 40 channels and they fleece the public with high subscription. Maran family is one of richest in the country. Can’t they reduce their earnings considering the public welfare,” EPS questioned.

“EPS is not able to draw crowd to the level of Jayalalithaa during her whirlwind election tours in Chennai and it is nice to see a CM in close quarters and approachable,” said S Kanchana, a flower vendor.

However, on the alliance front, the PMK and the BJP were certainly not a match for the ruling AIADMK as there were less than 100 cadre from these parties at any specific spot where the CM stopped to campaign for PMK and DMDK candidates.

Palaniswami, who was suffering from sore throat, skipped a few venues in Chennai but is now on a marathon campaign seeking votes for the AIADMK candidate in south Chennai. He will be touring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur for the next two days.