Loyalists of the two main Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK and the AIADMK, have traditionally followed their respective party’s diktat to transfer their votes to alliance partners despite bickering over seat allocation.
At a time when there are murmurs that the two main alliances in Tamil Nadu are facing discontent over seat-sharing among partners, the loyalty of the cadres is what both the DMK and the AIADMK are banking on to see them through.
Both parties have never got less than a fifth of the votes polled in an Assembly election in Tamil Nadu.
“We get drinking water twice a week, for an hour each. We additionally buy water for ₹1,700 per 1,000 litres. I have never seen the Congress MLA after he won, nor has the DMK-run municipality been able to resolve the issue. But I am a die-hard DMK supporter. If the party has asked us to vote for the Congress, then so be it,” an elderly voter on Sriperumbudur’s Gandhi Road told The Telegraph.
Most of these core voters may never have held any posts in these parties, but they wear their allegiance on their sleeves and toe the party line on seat sharing during polls.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai is contesting for a second term from Sriperumbudur, an industrial hub on the outskirts of Chennai. The seat holds great sentimental value to the party as former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated here.
Like almost every industrial area in India — except perhaps in Bengal and Kerala — companies prefer to hire workers from outside, fearing indiscipline riding on local clout. MLAs usually mediate between workers and companies on jobs.
Dhandapani is a daily wage labourer in Beemanthangal village, where a Korean hotel catering to foreign employees sticks out like a sore thumb amid the squalor around. “Our MLA at least got this road paved, and the water comes more frequently now. But when it comes to negotiating with the companies, we lose out as he sides with the companies,” Dhandapani says.
A neighbour interrupts him. “This village is voting for the Congress. Are workers paid better elsewhere? Our panchayat is ruled by the DMK, and we will support the candidate that our party backs,” she says.
Questions have been raised about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s late entry into the campaign, but a Congress MP said it didn’t have anything to do with the DMK.
At the local level, the alliance seems to hold for Selvaperunthagai, the Congress candidate from the Sriperumbudur Assembly seat.
Sriperumbudur city secretary of the DMK, R. Sathishkumar, said underground drainage pipelines were laid in 2024, and most parts of the city had drinking water supply except Gandhi Road and its vicinity, where he lived.
“The laying of pipelines has been completed. We are waiting for the model code to be lifted.... Once we return to power, we will have to have some mechanism to ensure jobs for local youths,” he said.
A DMK loyalist’s grandson, who is a “local youth”, told this paper that he was backing actor Vijay’s TVK because “other parties don’t do all that they promise to”.
In its stronghold of northern and western Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK continues to hold forth on the loyalty of its cadre and influence among the landed agrarian Vanniyar and Gounder castes. Here, some AIADMK supporters privately express heartburn over the growing influence of their ally BJP, but still promise to vote for the party.
In Avanashi, a seat previously held by the AIADMK and from where BJP Union minister L. Murugan is contesting, restaurant cashier Manikanta describes himself as an AIADMK fan. “Yes, we had a good MLA (former Speaker P. Dhanapal), but he has not been able to travel much here because of his health. L. Murugan is a high-profile candidate who can impress voters. If the AIADMK wants us to vote for him, we will,” he said.
Even in Rasipuram, where Dhanapal’s son is contesting on a TVK ticket against a BJP candidate, the AIADMK loyalists are sticking to the party line. “Dhanapal sir is highly respected, but we aren’t going to shift allegiance to his son. Even if Amma (former AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa) is no more, her party is the strongest to defeat the DMK, and we need the BJP’s support at the Centre. I will think of the two leaves (AIADMK symbol) when I press the lotus (BJP) button,” bus owner Meghanathan said.
Those who have lived out of the state, however, have begun to question old assumptions. Kumar, who works for the Delhi Tamil Education Association, is visiting his brother Subramani, a shepherd near Kurumbapatti in the Edappadi seat represented by AIADMK general secretary and Opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS).
Edappadi is EPS’s fief and he is credited with ensuring the best of roads and irrigation facilities. “I am satisfied with him as our MLA and Stalin as our CM,” Subramani said.
His Dalit settlement, however, mainly votes for the DMK, as “it is our party”, he added.
Kumar said: “When I come here, I wonder why the government can’t build some sports facilities or a park here for the children. With changing times, shouldn’t we Dalits also have a nice facility in our village where children can practice professional sports and move up in life?”