| The Madras Central constituency has been a DMK stronghold since 1980. Late Murasoli Maran had won the seat for the DMK in 1999 elections. |
| In an attempt to cash in on the goodwill of the senior Maran, the DMK has nominated his younger son, Dayanidhi Maran, to contest the Lok Sabha seat. Dayanidhi is being challenged by AIADMK candidate N Balaganga, who as been with the AIADMK since 1972. |
| In the six Lok Sabha elections between 1984 and 1999, Madras Central, has been won by either the DMK or the Congress. In fact in the last three polls, Murasoli Maran had retained the seat. |
| Historically, Maran came to power with a vote share of anywhere between 50 and 70 per cent indicating there is no strong anti-incumbency factor here. |
| Will the voters let Maran junior step into his father's shoes, particularly considering the out-sized one his father has left behind? Dayanidhi is aggrieved at such a query. "Are you from Chennai? How can you ask such questions?," he hits back with the confidence of contesting from a constituency that has been a DMK-stronghold. |
| Probably the 10 May elections will be a better judge of the final verdict. To start with, this aspirant has at least lived up to the well-known Dravidian trait "" his strong affiliation to the Tamil cause. |
| Murasoli Maran had won the 1999 election by a margin of 137,000 votes. The DMK party will be missing an astute political strategist in senior Maran. S Gurumurthy, a political writer, says, "If Maran was around, the DMK would not severed its alliance with the NDA. He may not have been a mass leader but he was a great strategist. In that sense, his absence is definitely a big loss for the DMK." |
| Dayanidhi is visibly uncomfortable with this issue. But he admits that his father has left behind a vacuum and he will try to fill it to the best of his ability. "The sympathy factor was true in the case of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and MGR (founder of AIADMK). But my campaign is around the good work my father has done for this constituency. That will fetch me the votes and there is no question of any sympathy here," he says. |
| He goes on to say that severing links with the NDA was a party decision and only his leader M Karunanidhi can answer any question on the wisdom behind the decision. |
| Balaganga's priorities for the city include providing drinking water, decongesting the arterial roads and slum clearance. He points out that DMK used only 56 per cent of central allocations to the constituency. |
| He is sure DMK's game plan to capture the sympathy votes will fall flat on its face. "Maran (senior) himself was not a mass leader, leave alone his son getting the sympathy votes in this election," he says in an assured manner. |
| Dayanidhi, an economics graduate from the prestigious Loyola College in Chennai, is also gearing to tackle some of the issues. "Infrastructure and water will top my agenda list. The DMK gave the first flyover to Chennai way back in the Seventies. We will ensure that heavy investments are made in the reverse osmosis technology to mitigate the drinking water crisis by at least a third," he explains. |
| He believes that this election will sound the death knell for the AIADMK regime in the state and mark the beginning for the DMK regime in the state. Dayanidhi who heads SCV, a leading MSO in Chennai, has also undergone a short management programme in the Harvard Business School. |
| In the eight Lok Sabha elections between 1977 and 1999, the DMK candidates have been either a winner or a runner up, with an exception of 1977. |
| The AIADMK on the other hand came into the picture only in 1998 and that too as a runner up. It is also a fact that the AIADMK contested in the constituency for the first time only in 1998. |
| There is no denying that Madras Central is a DMK stronghold and a son of Murasoli Maran has reason to hope to taste success in his maiden attempt in politics. But he will have to contend with the three decades experience in politics that backs Balaganga. |
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