Captain Vijayakanth kicks off campaign trail

Captain Vijayakanth kicks off campaign trail
22 Mar 2009, 2045 hrs IST

CHENNAI: After a week of anticipation that Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam

(DMDK) lead by actor turned politician 'captain' Vijayakanth
would announce its
alliance for the Lok Sabha elections on Sunday, Tamil Nadu was faced with an anti-climax: the party, instead, became the first one in the state to launch its election campaign.

What's more Vijayakanth, who has been keen on distancing his party and politics from the traditional and succesful dravidian politics in the state, hinted that his alliance would be only with the public.

"Do I look like I have an alliance with any other party for the sake of seat sharing?" he asked the crowds at Kancheepuram district, where the campaign trail began. "My alliance has always been with the people and God." The actor fashions a pan-TN charismatic appeal, as opposed to other parties here which have specific regional strongholds. Addressing voters from the streets encircling the temple at Kancheepuram, he instructed them to vote for the candidate whom he points out.

His brand of politics has always been about leveraging his familiarity and incorrupt image with voters. He reiterated his criticism on Tamil political parties of having been inefficient in handling the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, but remained non-committal on alliances with national parties, particularly the Congress. The party, rather close knit with Vijayakanth's wife Premalatha, her brother Sudheesh and party president Panruti Ramachandran playing key roles, was said to have been at Delhi last week, in talk with congress on seat sharing.

The party had also stressed yesterday that only with the help of the centre could the issues concerning TN like the Cauvery river water dispute and the Sri Lankan Tamils' plight be solved. In the recent past, its agenda had centred around developmental issues like power cuts in the state, road transport, equal education opportunities and job creation.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com