Amid Covid crisis, parties sharpen swords for political battle in 2021 Politicos Focus On Energising Functionaries

Amid Covid crisis, parties sharpen swords for political battle in 2021

Politicos Focus On Energising Functionaries

Team TOI

Chennai:  14.07.2020

The ongoing battle against the Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding, leading political parties in Tamil Nadu are gearing up for yet another fight.

With assembly polls just nine months away, provided the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic eases, both the ruling and opposition alliances are already in poll mode.

The ruling AIADMK, which recently revamped its moribund IT wing, has initiated a process to appoint 25,000 cadres at the grassroot level.

The party plans to appoint 70,000 people, including social media activists and influencers, for its digital fight against the DMK.

“Armed with mandates, we will go all out in our fight against rivals and ensure that all false propaganda made by the opposition is shot down immediately,” said Aspire K Swaminathan, AIADMK IT wing Chennai zone secretary.

Discussions are also on to increase the number of party districts from the present 56 to accommodate newly carved revenue districts in the state.

“The idea is to have a party district for 2-3 assembly seats in urban areas and 3-4 assembly segments in rural areas. This will lead to better administration, besides creating more posts for party cadres,” an AIADMK leader said.

For the DMK and its president M K Stalin, the lockdowns have virtually come as a boon to have prolonged interactive sessions with not just the district level office bearers, but also with the elected representatives of rural local bodies.

“Around 400 local body representatives of the party, from three districts at a time, participate in the interaction that goes on for more than three hours. At least 150 representatives get to speak, even as Stalin notes down the issues raised, at each meeting,” a DMK district secretary said.

As if sure about DMK emerging victorious in the next assembly polls, Stalin has extended his interactions to include doctors, industrialists and representatives from chambers of commerce.

“These interactions offer Stalin a hold on ground realities about the pandemic and its impact on the state’s economy,” said a party insider.

For its part, the BJP has so far held 1,170 virtual meetings with party functionaries in all 234 assembly segments.

Asking the functionaries to be election ready, BJP’s national general secretary B L Santhosh has directed them to take up people’s issues. What’s more, he has given them a free hand to be critical of the state government’s shortcomings.

The Congress too was not found wanting. TNCC president K S Alagiri has asked the state unit to celebrate the 117th birth anniversary of former CM K Kamaraj as ‘Retrieve Tamil Nadu’ day.

“Functionaries of the party’s district as well as zonal units will take an oath to retrieve Tamil Nadu from the clutches of the corrupt AIADMK,” Congress spokesman said.

The AIADMK plans to appoint 70,000 people, including social media activists and influencers, for its digital fight against the DMK DMK president M K Stalin holds interactive sessions with not just district-level officebearers, but also with representatives of rural local bodies