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Why OPS-Sasikala fight over Tamil Nadu's RK Nagar seat is drawing heat

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TS Sudhir
TS SudhirMar 23, 2017 | 19:51

Why OPS-Sasikala fight over Tamil Nadu's RK Nagar seat is drawing heat

It was said during MG Ramachandran's heyday that if his fur cap was merely showcased, it was good enough to get votes for the party. Thirty years after MGR passed away, the hat is being called upon to demonstrate its efficacy once again. The VK Sasikala camp of the AIADMK rejected the "autorickshaw" symbol that was initially allotted to it by the Election Commission, and instead asked for the hat.

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MGR fans would wonder why because Rickshawkaran (The Rickshawpuller) in 1971 — with a rickshaw and not an autorickshaw — was one of the biggest hits in MGR's film career, even winning him the National Award for best actor. And in the movie, MGR sports a hat, pretty similar to the one alloted to the Sasikala camp.

But then the new symbol suits TTV Dinakaran, the party's candidate in the RK Nagar Assembly by-election. No one expected him to throw his hat into the ring given that a defeat would most certainly put a question mark over his ability to lead the party. More importantly, his assertion that he, his aunt and their camp are the true inheritors of J Jayalalithaa's political legacy would come unstuck in the former CM's constituency.

But when the going gets tough, the Mannargudi family gets going. Dinakaran knows that if he manages to pull off a victory, even his critics will be forced to doff their hat to him. To show that he means business, Dinakaran arrived to file his nomination papers, sporting a cream colour hat. Expect the sale of hats to go up in hot Chennai till April 11. And luckily for Dinakaran, the city with its bias against Hindi may not know a popular saying in Hindi that "logon ko topi pehnaana" means to fool people.

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The two warring factions of AIADMK got new names and symbols for RK Nagar bypolls.

Dinakaran's supporters claim that, on the contrary, despite having the majority of MLAs and MPs on its side and a government in Tamil Nadu, it is the Election Commission that has been unfair to the Sasikala camp by denying it the "two leaves" symbol.

The decision to opt for the hat is with an eye to garner the MGR vote. For most old-timers, especially MGR fans, the two leaves symbol has always been associated in Tamil Nadu with the legendary actor-turned-politician. Dinakaran himself said on Thursday, "My symbol is MGR's hat and it will help me win and get back his original 'two leaves' symbol for the party.''

In April last year, during the Tamil Nadu elections campaign, I remember meeting Bhaktavatsalam in Kanchipuram district. This 60-something ran a roadside snack centre and his loyalty to the AIADMK had its roots in his admiration for MGR. "MGR means two leaves and two leaves mean MGR. I have never voted for anyone else, but the AIADMK because this is MGR's party,'' he said.

The O Panneerselvam camp in comparison has been lucky. The electric pole with twin lamps bears a similarity to the two leaves symbol and therefore would be easy for campaign managers to propagate among the voters in RK Nagar.

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Earlier, the AIADMK slogan was "Ungal vaaku irattai ilaiku'' (Your vote should be for two leaves). The OPS camp is now tweaking it to "Ungal vaaku irattai vilaku" (Your vote should be for two lamps).

This is the second time in AIADMK's history that the symbol has been frozen. After MGR's death in 1987, when the party split between the Janaki and Jayalalithaa factions, the 1989 election was fought on different symbols. While Jayalalithaa chose the rooster as symbol, Janaki settled for two pigeons. Janaki then spoke of Irattai Pura (two pigeons). But the connection to two leaves did not work and she came a cropper in the elections.

OPS would hope his "Irattai vilakku" does not go the same way.

Like Dinakaran with his hat, both factions of the AIADMK campaigned then with roosters and pigeons. The birds would be carried around either in cages or tied together. It eventually led to EC passing orders restraining candidates and parties from using animals and birds during election campaign.

With the EC insisting that neither camp can use the party name AIADMK as it is, both sides have been given suffixes. Having bagged MGR through the hat, Sasikala has made her party name 'AIADMK Amma' to attract voters with the Amma sentiment. The rival camp has added respect to the mix, calling itself AIADMK Puratchi Thalavi Amma, with "Puratchi Thalaivi" referring to the honour "revolutionary leader", that was bestowed on Jayalalithaa.

Another person who has come to the MGR-Jayalalithaa party is Jaya's niece Deepa, whose outfit is called MGR Amma Deepa Peravai (federation), dismissed by her critics as MAD Federation.

Clearly, this Chennai summer, it's MGR versus MGR and Amma versus Amma.

 

Last updated: March 24, 2017 | 14:16
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