There were days when mass leader and matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran preferred to contest from Madurai west and rural Andipatty and Aruppukottai. His political heir and former chief minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram has never dared to contest the election in any of the urban centres; instead she chose places like Bodi in Theni district, Bargur near Krishnagiri, Kangeyam in Erode district and again in Andipatty in Theni district. MGR had once been elected from St. Thomas Mount in Chennai.
The reason: the DMK was popular among urbanites, middleclass and educated while MGR’s Two Leaves (AIADMK symbol) found a place in the heart of poor masses and women in rural Tamil Nadu. The DMK had won two seats, Egmore and Harbour, when all its candidates were routed in the aftermath of Rajiv Gandhi assassination in 1991. Chennai has been a citadel of the DMK for long.
The DMK seems to have sensed that the wheel has come a full circle.
For the first time in the past four decades, chief minister M. Karunanidhi is moving out of the state capital. DMK’s liberal allotment of urban segments to allies, the Congress and PMK is an indication of their mood change. The DMK had contested 11 out of 14 seats in Chennai in 2006, and lost in its traditional strongholds like Triplicane, Mylapore, RK Nagar, Park Town, Thiagaraya. Nagar, Saidapet and Royapuram. This time, the party will be contesting in less seats for the first time in four decades.