‘Punishment’, anger, in-house tiff all part of Vellore campaign

In a recent incident, PMK youth wing leader and Dharmapuri MP candidate Anbumani Ramadoss, who was campaigning for his Arani counterpart V Elumalai (AIADMK), pulled him up upon finding the latter seated on a chair on the dais when everyone else were standing under the hot sun. Much to the amusement of the crowd, and in the presence of state law minister C V Shanmugam, he ‘yelled’ at Elumalai, “How come you are sitting when all of us are standing under the hot sun?”

An embarrassed Elumalai was quickly up on his feet with folded hands. He was then ‘ordered’ by the PMK leader not to sit for the next 10 days. While this amused the crowd, AIADMK cadre were miffed that their candidate was treated shabbily in the presence of the minister, Shanmugam.

In another instance, PMK chief S Ramadoss was miffed when he was informed that Arakkonam AIADMK MLA S Ravi was campaigning only for the AIADMK Sholingur MLA nominee and not for his party’s Arakkonam MP candidate A K Moorthy. Similarly, former Arcot MLA Vel Azhagan was campaigning only for the Vellore LS candidate A C Shanmugam and not for Moorthy though Arcot was part of Arakkonam LS constituency.

In the DMK camp, there is fear that the rousing reception given to party Anaicut functionary M Babu, who was arrested in connection with a red sanders smuggling case and released from Chittoor prison (Andhra Pradesh) on bail, could infuriate and turn away voters.

Similarly, in a bid to offset the impression that the DMK was against Hindus, the party has engaged a person dressed in saffron to canvass for Kathir Anand in Vellore.

According to a DMK functionary, Kathir Anand’s chances appear slim. In his own words, “If it is a question of choosing between A C Shanmugam or Duraimurugan, we will gladly vote for the latter. But when it is between Shanmugam and Duraimurugan’s son, we will elect the former as Kathir Anand knows nothing about politics.”