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Vellore poll: Decisive battle for Dravidian majors to prove their influence among people
Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, have adopted different campaign styles in the run-up to the August 5 elections to the Vellore parliamentary constituency.
By
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Chennai
While DMK’s Kathir Anand plans to file his nomination on July 17, the party cadre have already begun the election work at the grass root level by verifying the voters’ names. They have also been collection mobile phone number of the one of the family members, which party sources said was to later verify if any incentives reached them.
Though AIADMK cadre are also involved in a similar exercise, senior leaders said that their party cadre are known for collecting the details about the voters’ by sitting in one spot. While NDA candidate AC Shanmugam has already visited all six assembly constituencies (Vellore, Anaicut, KV Kuppam, Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Gudiyattam) last time, he is now conducting meetings with party cadre in various places.
But the party workers were annoyed that Shanmugam, instead of talking about the problems particular to an assembly constituency, was only reciting the promises that he made earlier like construction of marriage halls, MP offices, free higher education for poor students, free treatment at his Chennai and Bangalore hospitals, medical camps in each constituency.
For both parties, the election is an issue of reputation. While DMK would want to prove that winning 38 seat in Lok Sabha election was not a fluke, AIADMK would want to show it has got the voters’ support to send Shanmugam to Parliament.
Shanmugam has also been asking the people to think why they should be denied the chance to select the Prime Minister due to the machinations of the DMK. However, the chances of the PM Modi campaigning for Shanmugam is remote, said sources. “If Shanmugam loses even after Modi seeking votes for him, it will dent the image of PM. Even if Shanmugam wins, it will not mean anything much for the NDA combine as the BJP already has majority on its own,” said a AIADMK worker on condition of anonymity.
While the DMK has already listed out the senior leaders as in-charges for assembly constituencies, there is yet no word from AIADMK functionaries as to when ministers will turn up for campaigning, another AIADMK functionary fumed.
Real estate bizman’s house on Vellore outskirts raided
A team of six officers from the Income Tax Department from Chennai, accompanied by police, conducted a raid at the house of a real estate businessman on the outskirts of Vellore on Saturday. The team which arrived around noon seized cash to the tune of Rs 28 lakh from a bag, which was reportedly thrown out of the house. The money was said to be the proceeds from a real estate deal made by Elumalai, the owner of the house. While the officials refused to talk to the media, sources said the raid had no connection to the Lok Sabha scheduled in Vellore. The raid raised speculation about the fate of the poll as earlier, a similar incident resulted in April 18 elections to the Vellore Lok Sabha seat being countermanded. Then, Rs 11 crore in cash was seized from three locations owned by those close to DMK candidate Kathir Anand and his father and DMK treasurer Durai Murugan by I-T officials. The raid ended at 7 pm when the officials handed over the seized cash at the Vellore taluk office.
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