Headquarters of TN parties give away the plot

Chennai: As the poll trends emerged, the headquarters of AIADMK, DMK and TVK wore contrasting looks on Monday. There were no firecrackers being burst or cadres breaking into victory dances this time as TVK's whistle blew away the Dravidian majors.On Monday morning, Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, witnessed heavy police presence in anticipation of the ruling party's victory, and the party cadres put up shamiana and LCD TVs to provide shade to cadres while watching the election results live.After the first few rounds of results, temporary shelters were removed and the police also scaled down their presence. Whoever remained were unhappy with the poll results.Govindarajan, a veteran DMK cadre, said the results were a big surprise for cadres like him who came to the party headquarters with high hopes after exit poll results."Our party high command ignored workers and sided with turncoats while giving tickets. Many functionaries and workers were disillusioned," he said. A handful of cadres gathered at Anna Arivalayam said DMK will come back stronger from this situation.At Panaiyur, the mood was jubilant outside TVK's headquarters as actor-turned-politician Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) surged ahead in early counting trends on Monday. There were huge crowds outside his residence in Neelankarai as well.Dressed in white shirts and beige trousers, cadres sporting TVK shawls blew whistles and raised slogans hailing Vijay as "chief minister," even as no senior party leaders were visible at either location. Police presence was heavy, with at least 150 personnel deployed outside both the house and the party office, including Central Industrial Security Force units at the residence."This is victory to thuya sakti (a pure force) over thiya sakti (evil force)," said Singaravelan, 82, one of the party's oldest cadres, as chants and whistles filled the air.Traffic slowed along the East Coast Road toward Mahabalipuram as crowds swelled near the secured zones.At the AIADMK headquarters in Royapettah, cadres enthusiastically welcomed the news of CM M K Stalin and other ministers trailing. But the usual revelries were missing as both Dravidian majors trailed the new entrant TVK in this election.Balaraman, an MGR fan and party worker from Ayanavaram, said women voted in large numbers for TVK, which affected AIADMK's chances in this election.AIADMK supporter Anwar Basha and his friends purchased firecrackers worth 15,000 on Monday. But they did not burst them as early trends gave a clear lead to Vijay's TVK. Some cadres said the party leadership should have roped in actors Ajith or Rajinikanth for better outcome.
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