Perambur bypoll: Symbols take centrestage

With his eyes gleaming, the child asked Komalavalli, “Where is this big gift box going paati?” Though she promptly answered that it was part of an election rally, the kid remained amused by the ‘gift box’, which for him probablycontained toys.

With just a few days remaining, candidates vying to become the Perambur MLA, whose limits include Vyasarpadi, are making a strong pitch to the electorate by undertaking all efforts to popularise their respective symbol.

The Perambur Assembly constituency has been a citadel for the AIADMK and the Left parties. With the AMMK breaking away from the AIADMK, the DMK which had allied with the Left parties is hoping to emerge as a winner in the three-cornered contest.

AMMK’s P Vetrivel, who was Jayalalithaa’s campaign manager in R K Nagar, is seeking re-election from Perambur. He was disqualified as an MLA for shifting his allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran. Vetrivel, who will fight on AMMK’s ‘gift box’ symbol, is taking the polls as a do-or-die battle. “The two leaves symbol for which we worked all these years is now with the AIADMK traitors, who are dancing to the tunes of PM Modi. Vote for this situation to be changed,” declares Vetrivel, in his campaigns.

Rising to the challenge from the ruling AIADMK is its candidate R S Rajesh, who is also the party’s north Chennai district secretary. Rajesh is banking on the weight thrown by party presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan, the senior most AIADMK leader dating back to the days of party founder MGR. Madhusudhanan has made sure that the party old-timers from north Chennai are now rallying behind his trusted lieutenant Rajesh.

Not one to be left behind, DMK’s R D Sekar is appealing to voters by stating, “The AIADMK MLAs have mortgaged the state to the BJP-led Central government. This is the time to vote out the dictators. Please vote for the rising sun.”