In southern Tamil Nadu, Congress & ADMK on guard against BJP's caste mix

Virudhunagar: Parts of southern Tamil Nadu, which host Congress’ sitting constituencies such as Kanyakumari, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar, besides Tirunelveli where it is in the fray, are witnessing interesting contests with the Congress leaning a lot on the DMK, while its traditional rival here, the AIADMK, banking on the hope of its core vote base remaining intact in the absence of a charismatic leader even as the BJP is trying to make inroads by attempting a caste concoction.

As the southern part has traditionally lenient to the Congress in the Dravidian political landscape, the BJP is also trying its luck by tapping the local socio-political flavour. While these seats display Congress’ fight to retain its bases, it also showcases BJP’s experiments with local social engineering as a vehicle for its Hindutva plank in Dravidian politics. While rivals tap on incumbency issues of the sitting MPs and the DMK government, the best hope of the Congress lies in a division of anti-incumbency votes between AIADMK and BJP.

While Kanyakumari hosts a direct, and of late, traditional Congress-BJP contest, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar showcase triangular contests that the southern part is increasingly witnessing. The campaign of Congress’ sitting Sivaganga MP, Karti Chidambaram, is focussing on the need to strengthen the Congress tally in the Lok Sabha to oust the Modi government, criticising the Central government’s performance and citing the works done by the MP in the constituency which elected his father P Chidambaram multiple times. Among his tasks is to unite the faction-ridden local Congress and tide over incumbency issues. While AIADMK has fielded Xavier Dass and hopes to be perceived as the main challenger, it also faces the task of averting desertions. The BJP has made an entry through an unconventional candidate, Devanathan Yadav, a Chennai-based businessman who owns the WinTv group.


Karti Chidambaram won the seat with a three-lakh plus majority in 2019 in alliance with DMK against the AIADMK-backed BJP candidate. But the fact that he could poll just over 1.06 lakh votes in 2014, behind DMK’s 2.46 lakh (when the two parties fought without alliance) and the BJP’s 1.33 lakh when the AIADMK won the seat with 4.75 votes showed the Congress’ dependence here.

Locals differ on whether the AIADMK or BJP will emerge as the main challenger this time to the DMK-backed Congress MP. While the AIADMK is playing by the convention, the BJP has changed tact, by bringing in a Yadav candidate in place of H Raja, a Brahmin whom it had fielded in the past two polls. The BJP campaign this time is attempting to rally the Yadav population (about 1.25 lakh) to its traditional base of over one lakh here. BJP, which is backing ex-CM Panneerselvam in the neighbouring Ramanathapuram, is hoping his caste base among the Maravars will extend help in Sivaganga with its Yadav candidate here returning his community’s backing to OPS in his seat.

The locals are keenly watching how the Chettiars, the caste to which the Chidambarams belong to, will vote this time. It is no secret that the BJP has been cultivating this caste, especially by working on its spiritual and material interests in Varanasi. Incidentally, on April 21, just two days after the Tamil Nadu poll, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and UP CM Yogi Adityanath are slated to lay the foundation stone in Varanasi of the New Dharmasala Building of the Sri Kasi Nattukkottai Nagara Satram Managing Society, controlled by the Chettiars, in the presence of many community leaders, including some with direct connection/influence in Sivaganga.

“While the local MP has done some work, there are some issues of lack of development and job avenues here. While the DMK and Congress leaders are working to cement the unity, some people here are thinking whether to vote for AIADMK, which is likely to join the BJP post-poll, or vote directly for Modi’s party,” said Suresh, a resident near the Sivaganga collectorate.

In neighbouring Virudhunagar, sitting Congress MP Manickam Tagore is pitted in a similar contest –– depending hugely on ally DMK –– it is facing traditional rival (AIADMK-backed) DMDK, whose founder ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth died recently. The BJP is trying to queer his pitch by unleashing a popular film star couple –– Radhika and R Sarathkumar –– with the wife being the BJP candidate, while attempting to stitch up the caste mix.

Tagore, who won the seat in 2019 by 1.5-odd lakh margin is facing DMDK’s V Vijaya Prabhakaran, son of the late Vijayakanth, who is banking on the ‘sympathy’ factor with his mother leading an emotional campaign. In a formal alliance with DMDK, the AIADMK is fuelling Captain’s son’s campaign, something the locals here feel may mean Tagore may have to work extra this time to tactically retain the “informal support” he purportedly received from sections of AIADMK in 2019.

The BJP, through the candidature of Radhika, is not only gambling on the star couple’s popularity but also the valuable caste mix they bring in –– the actresses’ mother belongs to the Naidu community (same as Vijayakanth family) while the father and husband belong to Nadar caste –– all key segments here.

While the campaign of Tagore, who belongs to the Kallar community, highlights the Congress’ critical role in fighting the Modi regime and his contributions as MP, locals say he is almost entirely depending on the DMK, particularly two ministers of the Stalin government from this area –– KKSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu – to fan his campaign and face the change from the two fronts.