Making his electoral debut in the Tamil Nadu assembly polls, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay is contesting from two seats — the minority Christian-dominant Perambur in Chennai and Trichy (East).
By announcing candidates for all 234 constituencies on Sunday, the actor-turned politician has proved the doubting Thomases wrong that he could not even find candidates for all the seats and that the fledgling party was struggling in this regard.
Surprisingly, the TVK is fielding VS Babu, a known DMK face, against Chief Minister MK Stalin in Kolathur. Denied a party ticket, he defected to the TVK. Rattling the AIADMK, BJP and the Naam Tamilar Katchi, Vijay has also given tickets to a few candidates who had switched over to the DMK from these parties.
“The fight is primarily between the TVK and the DMK. Having trust in you, the people, I have taken the political plunge, leaving everything behind. Give us an opportunity,” he said, after releasing the party’s list at a private hotel in Chennai, with all nominees sharing the stage with him. “The DMK alliance is like a broken glass that has been put together again,” he charged, affirming the party’s steadfast commitment to secularism.
Listing the party’s poll promises, apart from those announced earlier, Vijay said the TVK would ensure that 75 per cent of employees in private firms in the state are Tamils, and such industries would be extended sops. Promising educational loans of up to Rs 20 lakh without collateral, he also assured monthly cash assistance of Rs 4,000 to the unemployed youth, among other measures.
As speculated earlier, Vijay is contesting from both Perambur and Trichy-East constituencies. In this, he appears to be following in the footsteps of the late Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. In Perambur, he is pitted against the sitting MLA, RD Sekar of the DMK, who had won by a margin of more than 50,000 votes. In Trichy-East, he will face the current legislator, Inigo Irudhayaraj of the DMK, who also belongs to the minority Christian community.
Former AIADMK leaders who had joined the TVK, including former ministers KA Sengottaiyan and Ku Pa Krishnan, former legislator JCD Prabhakar and former MP Sathyabama, among others, have already been nominated. TNCC general secretary Selvam, who has been suspended from the party, is the TVK nominee from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni to take on Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
Prominent among the TVK top brass fielded in this election are general secretary ‘Busy’ N Anand (Theagaraya Nagar), deputy general secretaries Aadhav Arjuna (Villivakkam) and Rajmohan (Egmore), all four in Chennai; general secretary Arun Raj (Tiruchengode-Namakkal district); and joint-secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar (Thiruparankundram-Madurai district).
Reacting to Vijay contesting from two seats, senior DMK Minister K Regupathy predicted that the actor would lose in both. Another senior minister and Trichy strongman, KN Nehru, dismissed his charade against the DMK as habitual.