At a time when DMDK chief Captain Vijayakanth is unable to contest polls due to his poor health, it is his wife Premalatha Vijayakanth who is leading the fight on behalf of him for the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. "I am the lady captain. I am not his shadow. I prefer to be in his shadows," Premalatha told THE WEEK as she set out to campaign in Virudhachalam.
On Saturday, a day after filing her nominations, Premalatha was confident of pulling off a victory. Clad in a peacock blue coloured sari, Premalatha is no newcomer to Virudhachalam. "I am the daughter of Virudhachalam," she said with a confident smile on her face.
In Virudhachalam, one of the assembly segments in north Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, Premalatha will be fighting her rivals, the PMK and the Congress. The PMK being part of the AIADMK alliance aims at the Vanniyar votes in the constituency. The DMDK walked out of the AIADMK alliance just two days before the election date announcement and is now a part of the T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led AMMK alliance.
"We had a bad experience. We lost the MP election because of the alliance," said Premalatha. The DMDK, founded in 2005 by Vijayakanth had scored 8.5 per cent votes in its debut elections in 2006. Vijayakanth won as its lone MLA from Virudhachalam. In 2011, when the DMDK contested being in the AIADMK alliance, the party polled 7.88 percentage votes, but won 29 out of the 41 seats it contested. Vijayakanth was the opposition leader. But in 2016, he chose to lead the third front called the Peoples' Welfare Front, but suffered a major defeat. In 2019 the DMDK, despite having chances to be part of the DMK alliance, chose to go with the AIADMK-BJP alliance in which the PMK was also part of. But the DMDK witnessed a major defeat and its vote share came down to less than 5 per cent.
Even after the poll debacle, Vijayakanth's party was expected to continue in the alliance. AIADMK seniors S.P. Velumani and P. Thangamani called on Vijayakanth soon after the ruling party's alliance with Ramadoss's PMK was firmed up. With Vijayakanth unwell, it was his wife and DMDK party treasurer Premalatha who sat in the seat sharing talks. However, the talks failed, forcing the DMDK to look for other options—to contest alone or go with Kamal Haasan's MNM or make alliance with T.T.V.'s AMMK. Premalatha chose the third option to make the party cadres feel enthusiastic. With 60 seats from the AMMK alliance, in which Asadhudhin Owaisi's AIMIM and the SDPI are also part of, the DMDK has hit the campaign trial.
Weighing the options of contesting either from Virudhachalam or from Panrutti, Premalatha chose Virudhachalam as there are considerable non-Vanniyar votes and at least 30,000 Muslim votes. "People here personally like Vijayakanth because he delivered during his tenure as MLA," she told THE WEEK. She recalled the times when Vijayakanth got six water tankers from his own funds to quench the thirst of the people of Virudhachalam during summer. Considering the closeness of Vijayakanth with the people, Premalatha, from the Naidu community, is confident of pulling off a win this time.
On Saturday, as she set out on campaign, she went to offer prayers at the Sembaiyyanar temple, which is sentimentally close to Vijayakanth. "Our captain in 2006 launched his campaign from here. So our Anni is also starting from here," said a local DMDK functionary. Premalatha is also set to take out a door-to-door campaign in the constituency.