advertisement
It's 1:30 pm on a hot Thursday afternoon in Chennai. Prabhakaran (38) and Manikandan (50), both ambulance drivers, stop at a roadside shop in Kannagi Nagar for a tea break.
Sipping his tea, Manikandan stares at a television in the shop, broadcasting former Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan's campaign in Sholinganallur, merely 2 km from Kannagi Nagar.
Manikandan turns to this reporter and says:
Before Manikandan could complete his sentence, Prabhakaran interjects and asks, "But if she really wanted to do service, she should have left her [governor] post and began the groundwork. What's the point of resigning a month before the elections? She has no connect with the people."
The segment – a traditional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) bastion – is set to witness a triangular contest among Tamilisai, incumbent DMK MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian, and former AIADMK MP J Jayavardhan in the 19 April Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.
But the question is whether 62-year-old Tamilisai can help with the BJP's big Tamil Nadu push – or will the DMK continue to hold its fort in Chennai South? The Quint hit the ground in the constituency and spoke to locals and party leaders to get a sense of which way the winds are blowing.
Born to an influential Nadar family in Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district, Tamilisai is the daughter of late Congress MP Anandan Kumari. A gynaecologist by profession, she has been an influential figure in the BJP for over a decade, holding important electoral and administrative posts.
Her most successful stint was during her five-year tenure between 2014 and 2019 as the state BJP president, where she was credited with popularising the party across the state.
In the 2009 general elections, she unsuccessfully contested from Chennai North and got 3.54 percent of votes. In 2019, Tamilisai lost to Kanimozhi from Thoothukudi, polling 21.77% votes to the DMK leader's 56.77%. Five months after her poll debacle in 2019, Tamilisai was appointed the Governor of Telangana.
Last month, on 20 March 2024, her decision to resign from the post to rejoin the party surprised many. Speaking to reporters, Tamilisai said:
Not many leaders return to electoral politics after becoming a governor, a constitutional position considered 'a retirement post' for politicians. But the former BJP state chief is considered crucial to the politics of Tamil Nadu, where the party is desperately trying to make inroads.
According to BJP leaders The Quint spoke to, Tamilisai was chosen as a Lok Sabha candidate mainly due to her administrative experience in the party, and her familiarity with the state.
Another BJP functionary described Tamilisai as a "bold, self-made and strong leader," who is an "important woman face in Tamil Nadu."
"No one knows the Chennai South constituency better than Tamilisai akka (sister), because she has been a voter from the same area for over three decades. Her skill as an administrator adds to her advantage," the functionary added.
When The Quint spoke to DMK and AIADMK leaders, both sides claimed that making Tamilisai contest from Chennai South showed the "desperation of the BJP to enter Tamil Nadu."
Meanwhile, Chennai-based political analyst Sumanth Raman told The Quint that Tamilisai has always acted as a politician even during her tenure as the Telangana Governor.
Ramu Manivannan, a political analyst and former Head of Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras, told The Quint that the BJP was doing a lot of "electoral, arithmetic gamble" in Tamil Nadu.
Despite claiming to know the problems faced by residents of this constituency as she had lived here for 40 years, it's not going to be smooth ride for Tamilisai.
Home to the IT corridor in areas such as Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and Sholinganallur, the commercial hub of T Nagar, and the cultural hub of Mylapore – Chennai South is a 'rockstar' constituency, which has been a DMK stronghold for over four decades.
While the sitting MP – a writer and professor – is looking to secure a consecutive win, the AIADMK has fielded former MP Jayavardhan, son of the party's spokesperson D Jayakumar, who has wielded considerable influence in the city for decades.
Interestingly, this time, civic issues have trumped national policies in this particular constituency. The DMK MP is facing anti-incumbency over the poor handling of the 2023 December floods, erratic power supply, bad roads, and increasing traffic congestion.
While the BJP, in its campaign speeches, have vocally spoken against the Dravidian ideology, the AIADMK candidate is looking to use the anti-incumbency factor to its advantage.
Meanwhile, Karuppiah, a 60-year-old security guard from Saidapet, said:
Refuting the allegation of anti-incumbency in the constituency, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said:
On 9 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a massive roadshow in Chennai covering T Nagar. As the BJP tries to increase its vote share from the 3.6 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, its heavyweights have made a beeline for Tamil Nadu, with this being Modi's seventh visit this year.
Political analysts explained that the BJP has always had an eye on this constituency as it has the biggest population of Brahmins in a Lok Sabha seat in the state, with Mylapore, T Nagar, and Velachery commanding a sizeable portion of the community vote.
Meanwhile, Sumanth Raman said that the Brahmin vote is hardly enough for the BJP to win the seat in Chennai South.
"It's only in T Nagar and Mylapore that there's a significant population of Brahmins. But unlikely that all the votes will go to her. Large numbers may abandon the AIADMK to vote for BJP, but not all," he added.
Both analysts, however, agreed that the vote split between the AIADMK and the BJP will help the DMK in securing a victory in the Chennai South constituency.
"But the DMK's vote share will drastically reduce this time," added Ramu Mannivannan.
Speaking to The Quint, an AIADMK leader, refused that there will be a split between the party and the BJP's votes in the constituency. "It's not a three-way contest. It's a contest between the AIADMK and the DMK. The BJP is not even in the picture, so there will not be a vote split," the leader said.
For 52-year-old Chitra, a Brahmin cook based out of Adyar, Tamilisai is a "breath of fresh air" in Chennai South.
Meanwhile, Karuppiah, too agreed that while Tamilisai is a "new entrant" to Chennai, she is "capable of making good changes and bettering the lives of common people.
"Our lives are beyond ideology, and ultimately the positive impact on your livelihoods is what will make us vote for a person," he added.
However, several voters The Quint spoke to believed that Tamilisai did not stand a chance, and neither did the BJP due to the party's "ideology", which they believed would not work in Tamil Nadu.
A 25-year-old doctor, who's a resident of T Nagar, told The Quint:
Meanwhile, as Manikandan finished his tea and walked towards his ambulance, he looked at this reporter, and said: "It's going to take the BJP a long time to enter into the land of Periyar (EV Ramaswamy), Anna, and Kalaingar (Karunanidhi)."
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: undefined