A prime question making the rounds in political circles in the city is: Will the DMK give tickets to M.K. Alagiri’s supporters to contest the local body polls?
Though party poll managers remain tight-lipped, they privately admit that “such applications may be considered” on case-by-case basis. Primarily, Mr. Alagiri’s supporters, except for those placed under suspension, continue to be in the party.
In the outgoing council, the DMK has 12 members, with M.L. Raj as leader of the party. Mr. Raj is not contesting this time as his ward has been reserved for women. Mubarak Mantri, a staunch supporter of Mr. Alagiri, is contesting as an independent from ward 67.
When contacted, he said that he was confident of victory as he had done many good things for the people in his ward. When asked whether he would oppose a DMK candidate, he said, “It is for the voters to take a call. I am confident of winning is all that I can say now,” he said.
The DMK poll managers suspect the AIADMK’s hand behind reservation of many wards for women. “The idea is to silence the men from the DMK,” they noted.
Ward 10
Interestingly, Arun Kumar, who was the only candidate to be elected on a DMK ticket in the 2011 elections from the entire west zone of Madurai Corporation, had plans to contest this time also, but his ward has been reserved for women. So, his mother is seeking a ticket to contest, a party man said. Likewise, former Mayor Thenmozhi Gopinathan’s ward has been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Under such circumstances, Mr. Mubarak Mantri said that he had filed his nomination as independent on Wednesday. Many more like him, who are loyal to Mr. Alagiri, may file papers in the next couple of days. However, DMK functionaries said that they were confident of sorting out the issue. A senior party functionary said that they would give chance for new faces, who were good and connected with people and problems. Moreover, it was the DMK which had done a lot for the citizens of Madurai, be it building bridges, or laying roads or providing potable water.
When the people had elected a person like P. T. R. P. Thiagarajan from Madurai Central, it showed that the voters wanted educated people to come to politics, he said.
