Alagiri missing in action, rivals rejoice

MADURAI: It is an absence that is hurting DMK cadres in the temple city. While AIADMK candidates and cadres are riding high on the enthusiasm generated by chief minister J Jayalalithaa's visit to Madurai and other southern cities on Thursday, the DMK campaign has floundered in the absence of the party's southern satrap M K Alagiri.
District functionaries of DMK had announced that Alagiri would launch the campaign of party's mayor nominee P Packyanathan two weeks ago.But Alagiri skipped the event though the functionaries waited for over three hours. His absence was explained as being due to health reasons. But they have been hard-pressed to explain why he has kept his distance from the party's local body campaign all this while. Is it that Alagiri is busy with the land encroachment case filed against his family members? Or is it that he wants to maintain a low profile after the crackdown on his close aides? With none willing to clarify, cadres are inventing their own reasons.
A senior DMK leader on the condition of anonymity told TOI that Alagiri was busy with his sister Kanimozhi's cases. "He stays in Delhi for two days in a week and hence cannot devote his time to the local body election," the leader said. Whether this would convince party cadres is anybody's guess.
DMK supporters say that Alagiri always conducted review meetings in a marriage hall to work out the party's strategy for elections. He, of course, rarely led the campaign from the dais. Public meetings weren't his forte, but his strategies were crucial to the party doing well in the southern districts, for long considered a stronghold of AIADMK. His absence has demoralised cadres.
DMK member J Anna Durai from Anna Nagar said if Alagiri was engrossed in family problems and decided to keep away from the campaign, the party would take a severe beating in Madurai. Another member of the party, K Kathir, said the DMK had given Rs 1 lakh to each of its candidates during the last local body election, but this time money hasn't been distributed. "This lack of support gives the impression that the party is not serious about the local body polls," he said.
In contrast, AIADMK ministers and senior party functionaries are campaigning hard for V V Rajan Chellappa, AIADMK's mayor candidate. DMK has been running Madurai corporation for the past 15 years and the time was ripe for an AIADMK takeover, they feel. The absence of Alagiri in the campaign could only hasten the process.