Politics tamfitronics
CHENNAI: Electoral politics in Tamil Nadu is, amongst heaps of issues, a jamboree of ironies. What else explains the ardour of almost every gain together that vows to strive for a casteless society placing caste on excessive priority while deciding on allies and candidates? While every of the three predominant alliances this time tried to preserve caste-basically based fully vote banks jubilant, two parties stand out as embodiments of caste politics –
PMK
and
Finals
.
Anbumani Ramadoss’s PMK, with a solid Vanniyar vote wicked, and Thol Thirumavalavan’s VCK, a dalit gain together, had been in demand within the alliance market (dalits portray about 20% of the reveal’s inhabitants, while vanniyars are estimated to be create spherical 14%). VCK stayed actual to the DMK alliance; PMK negotiated simultaneously with BJP and AIADMK sooner than sooner or later deciding to flit with the saffron.
Each the parties appreciate solid bases within the northern districts. And they’re in a straight away combat within the reserved constituency of Villupuram the build VCK overall secretary D Ravikumar seeks re-election. AIADMK, within the interim, has tied up with K Krishnaswamy’s Puthiya Tamilagam which represents the pallar sect that constitutes about 5% of dalits within the reveal (paraiyars, who Thirumavalavan represents, myth for 13%, while arundhatiyars portray 2%). DMK also has in its fold Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi, which has a enhance wicked amongst gounders in some western pockets.
PMK’s possibility to align with BJP is seen as the gain together’s technique to work for a coalition authorities in TN with out DMK and AIADMK in 2026. “That’s why thalaivar (Anbumani) isn’t contesting this time,” acknowledged an insider. In the fray in Dharmapuri is his wife Sowmiya Anbumani. Anbumani has been looking out to shake off PMK’s image as a ‘caste gain together’, but the gain together’s bottom line remains the enhance of vanniyars – one thing that makes it natty for alliance leaders.
VCK has been a dependable ally of DMK. Moreover his call to defeat ‘fascist forces’, Thirumavalavan feels his community stands to connect extra by aligning with the winning aspect within the reveal than the one at the Centre. Hence his stand that this
is “now now not between the INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA, but between the folk and Sangh Parivar”. A diagram for VCK would be that it hasn’t got its most neatly-preferred ‘pot’ image.
VCK people procure comfort within the truth that AIADMK and PMK are now now not together this time. “Votes of vanniyars will seemingly be rupture up between AIADMK and PMK, giving us an edge,” acknowledged a VCK functionary. “PMK joined an alliance led by BJP, which has entirely different ideologies. PMK demands the habits of a caste-basically based fully census while BJP is in opposition to it. In an identical plot, the stance of the 2 parties on Neet and reservation and several other different problems are contradictory,” he acknowledged.
