DMK wins Dindigul in style after 39 years

AIADMK allotted the seat to the PMK

May 25, 2019 01:26 am | Updated 01:27 am IST - DINDIGUL

P. Velusamy

P. Velusamy

For DMK’s Lok Sabha candidate P. Velusami, the victory was a double delight. A new entrant to active politics, who was otherwise not known till April to many people, he has now won by a margin of 5,38,972 votes over his nearest PMK rival Jothimuthu, the largest margin in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK candidate had polled 7,46,523 votes (64.35%) out of 11,55,438 votes while the PMK bagged 2,07,551 (17.89%), the Naam Tamilar Katchi got 4.74% and Makkal Neethi Maiyam polled 3.34%.

The AIADMK had won its first election in 1973 from Dindigul Lok Sabha seat. “The last time the DMK won the constituency was in 1980. The effective campaign of party leader M.K. Stalin led to the party candidate winning with a record margin,” said former DMK minister I. Periyasamy, the DMK’s local strongman. But the party lost the Nilakottai Assembly constituency.

Mr. Periyasamy said: “From now on, Dindigul is our fort.”

“Among all the successful contestants, I stand tall and ahead among them means, it is because of the overwhelming support from the people of Dindigul for the DMK...,” said a jubilant Mr. Velusami and promised to be available for the people. He promised to bring in development with the able guidance of party leaders and president M.K. Stalin. A family friend of Mr. Velusami said besides Tamil, he is fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Infighting in AIADMK

The infighting within the AIADMK forced the high command to “gift” the seat to the PMK, which claimed to have a “strong base” in Dindigul Lok Sabha constituency. Accusing the party leaders and admitting that infighting was at its worst between supporters of Dindigul C. Srinivasan and Natham R. Viswanathan, a former AIADMK MLA said the groupism forced the high command to give away the seat, which was held by them since 1980. When the AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran floated the party, Maya Thevar registered the first victory by contesting on ‘two-leaves’ symbol.

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