The Hindu : AIADMK on a gift spree in Sattankulam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

AIADMK on a gift spree in Sattankulam

By Radha Venkatesan

Women of Malavarayanatham in the Sattankulam Assembly constituency showing sarees they received from the AIADMK. — Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

Sattankulam (TUTICORIN DISTRICT) Feb.15. As the campaign for the bitterly-fought byelection in this Assembly constituency hots up, the AIADMK is luring voters with not just pre-poll assurances but with instant "action" on promises and an unprecedented swamp of gifts.

While the Election Commission observers camp 50 km away from Sattankulam, AIADMK bigwigs have silently besieged the hamlets, with gift hampers of all kinds — from synthetic sarees for women to cricket bats, volley balls, nets and T-shirts for youth. Repairs to local temples, remaining dilapidated for several years, construction of buildings for self-help groups, installation of water tanks and provision of lights for streets, which were unlit for several months, are also part of the bonanza.

The 1.52-lakh electorate, who have not often seen their MLAs turning up in the constituency after an election, are now savouring "royal" attention. As many as 12 Ministers, 10 MPs and over 60 ruling party MLAs, mostly from southern districts, have knocked at their doors at least half-a-dozen times in the last fortnight, to attend to their needs. This apart, the AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalithaa's campaign caravan will whiz through the constituency for five days.

All this, because it is the first time in the last 20 years that the AIADMK is contesting in what is considered a Congress bastion.

A visit to villages in the Alwarthirunagari and Sattankulam unions will give a clue to how "gifted" the rural voters are and to the systematic wooing by the AIADMK bandwagon. Youth clubs and SHGs are the chosen targets.

Several voters this correspondent spoke to, particularly in Dalit colonies in the Alwarthirunagari union and Christian-dominant hamlets near Nazareth, showed the sarees and cricket bats they had received. "We gave our list of demands — reconstruction of a run-down temple and digging up of a canal. And, the AIADMK men immediately disbursed money for the works," admits a woman SHG member of the Dalit-dominant Adhinadhapuram panchayat in the Alwarthirunagari union.

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