MADURAI:
Narendra Modi is the new mantra for regional allies of the BJP in Tamil Nadu and actor
Vijayakanth of the DMDK is no exception when it comes to promising voters that just a wave of the Modi wand would work wonders. So, while campaigning in Madurai, his home town on Wednesday evening, the Captain enthusiastically invoked Modi's name to assure crowds at meeting points in Melur in Madurai outskirts and Muni Salai junction and Old Kuyavar Palayam Road in the temple city that water, power and other basic amenities would be provided if the NDA was voted to power and Modi was made the
Prime Minister.
"If we win all 40 seats (including Puducherry), then Modi will become PM and we can lay down our demands before him without hesitation and fight for it," Vijayakanth said, addressing a modest gathering at Muni Street in the city. Listing out the problems of Madurai, he said the constituency was plagued by water and power problems besides the long-pending promise of a multi-specialty hospital, co-sponsored by the centre, for which land has just been acquired.
"The
AIADMK government has done nothing for Madurai," he said. Addressing the sizeable Saurashtrian (backward caste) population in the constituency, he said there was nothing wrong in their demand for most backward caste status. Unemployment was high and farmers were in dire straits. Many of the demands of voters remained unfulfilled, he said, accusing AIADMK supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa of doing little for the constituency.
Vijayakanth's Madurai schedule was postponed twice earlier. There was speculation that the actor was reluctant to pay obeisance to expelled DMK leader M K Alagiri before launching his Madurai campaign. While MDMK leader Vaiko and BJP senior leader and Sivaganga candidate H Raja called on Alagiri and sought support, Vijayakanth chose not to do so.
In Melur, his first halt in the constituency, Vijayakanth raked up the multi-crore granite scam that rocked the region. He wondered why when the state government arrested P R Palanisamy of PRP Granites for alleged complicity in causing massive loss to the ex-chequer due to violations of norms, it failed to proceed similarly against S Vaikuntarajan of V V Minerals.
Evoking nostalgia, Vijayakanth, while speaking near Dinamani Talkies at Muni Salai junction, which has now been razed down, said 20 years ago he watched films of matinee idol M G Ramachandran in the movie house. "We would then go to a street side stall nearby to have super parotta and mutta parotta with kuruma," he said. "My beginnings were here," he said, striking a chord with the frenzied crowd of fans and party cadre, who blocked the main road for a good part of the evening.