The DMK has been trying hard to gain ground in the western region, which it could not capture even when it won 133 seats on its own in 2021. In the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly, DMK and its allies have 159 MLAs. The AIADMK and its allies have 75 MLAs.

Political analysts saw Stalin’s move as an attempt to woo the voters, who were once staunch DMK supporters but later backed AIADMK because of the support to the Gounders (an OBC community) in the western region.

“It is certain that DMK is looking at the votes of the community. AIADMK has deep roots in the region after Edappadi K Palaniswami became the CM (in 2017) and the region has got more ministers during the AIADMK rule. However, now the scenario is slowly changing as the AIADMK leaders are becoming weak at the public domain and DMK is capitalising the situation,” political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy said.

However, a senior leader at DMK headquarters told ThePrint that it was an exercise to bridge the gap between the party head and the grassroot level workers ahead of the polls. Nevertheless, he did not deny the electoral caste undercurrents of the visit. “It is always there in the back of the mind, but it has never been the goal.”

DMK spokesperson and IT wing deputy secretary Salem Dharanidharan maintained that the meeting was to understand the grassroot problems. “The CM has always been keen on meeting people. The benefit that comes out of it is that he is listening to people’s grievances and addressing them. It helps in understanding grassroots problems. It can’t be seen as electioneering work,” he said.

In 2021, according to the Election Commission’s data, the only region where the AIADMK’s vote share (44.2 percent) surpassed DMK’s vote share (42.4 percent) was the western region. The DMK has won only one assembly segment in Coimbatore district since 2011—Singanallur in 2016.

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Trend in western region

The present day AIADMK gained ground in this region from the 1980s. In fact, the region has been a stronghold for AIADMK ever since its founder M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, split from DMK in 1972. Before the political plunge of the actor-turned politician, the region was a fortress of Congress and DMK.

There was a minor blip in 1996 when DMK returned to the region when AIADMK suffered a rout winning four seats only that year. However, it was short lived as AIADMK outperformed DMK and its allies in the next election.

Even in 2021, when DMK had a resounding win in the state, it managed to secure only 24 seats there. The remaining 48 went to AIADMK.

But the year also marked DMK’s foray into the region courtesy controversial minister Senthil Balaji, who was a former AIADMK member from Karur district. Balaji was arrested in an alleged money laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam during his stint as the AIADMK transport minister.

The region, largely dominated by the Gounders (an OBC community), has a firm grip over the state’s electoral politics. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and BJP state president K Annamalai, two major leaders of Tamil Nadu, are from this community.

According to the local DMK leaders, the party managed to win the urban and rural local body polls, the Erode by-polls and the recent Lok Sabha polls after Balaji, a Gounder, was made in-charge of the western region in 2019.

“Although he was not there during the recent Lok Sabha polls, the structure and the formula he built to woo the voters helped to get the support of the people in the western region,” a senior DMK leader, who worked in the general elections, told ThePrint.

Political commentators observed that the DMK is still worried about Coimbatore since it is a stronghold of AIADMK and BJP is also gaining ground.

“It is also significant because of Senthil Balaji, who was imprisoned for more than 400 days. Unlike most other politicians, he did not bend or break away from DMK. The Coimbatore visit may also be an acknowledgement of his loyalty and good work of Balaji, as an in-charge of the western districts,” political commentator N Sathiya Moorthy.

During his visit to Coimbatore, Stalin met people from different walks of life and inspected various schemes being implemented in the city. He also announced six new projects, including a new IT park, extension of an underconstruction flyover by about another 5 km, and repair of damaged roads.

At Anuparpalayam, the CM announced that a gold jewellery industrial park would be set up at Kurichi SIDCO in the district at a cost of Rs 126 crore employing 2,000 people directly and 1,500 people indirectly.

Stating that the western region was the DMK’s weak point, political commentator Sigamani Thirupathi credited the legacy of MGR for this AIADMK dominance.

“Not just the Gounders in the region, other communities also support AIADMK. The field visits and the meeting with the DMK workers in those districts mean that DMK has started its 2026 election work. The party would eventually speed it up after January,” he said.

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Shade better in south

Similar to the Gounders in the west, the Mukkulathor community (an umbrella term used to denote the Kallars, the Maravars and the Agamudaiyars, all OBCs) is dominant in the southern region.

The tide of Mukkulathor support turned to AIADMK after MGR announced in 1979 that the birth anniversary of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar would be celebrated as a government event. Even though the community had been celebrating it as Thevar Guru Pooja, the AIADMK founder was the first chief minister to participate in the event in 1979.

The change became further pronounced after the now expelled AIADMK leaders VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, both belonging to the Mukkulathor community, joined hands with J. Jayalalithaa. In 2014, the AIADMK supremo donated 13 kg gold armour for the statue of Thevar in Ramanathapuram district.

Although DMK’s performance has not gone down so much electorally in recent years, a southern district secretary told ThePrint that the DMK’s image as ‘an anti-caste party’ was damaging. The Mukkulathors, he said, presume the DMK to be anti-OBC and instead favour the Scheduled Castes.

“In one of the pamphlets printed in 2021, we had Periyar’s image, but not the image of a political leader, who is considered a Mukkulathor icon. A former MLA had to intervene and calm down the section of people and pamper them by showing the representation of their community inside the DMK,” another senior district leader told ThePrint.

That year, DMK and its allies won 36 seats, while the remaining 15 seats went to AIADMK and its allies.

During his visit to Virudhunagar district, Stalin visited cracker manufacturing units and inquired about the safety and well-being of workers. He was also explaining the Rs 1,000 financial assistance scheme for women.

📜 நிலமும் வீடும் பெரும்பான்மையான மக்களின் கனவு! அதனை ஈடேற்றும் வகையில் 40 ஆயிரம் பேருக்குப் பட்டா உட்பட,

🔹 ரூ.417.21 கோடி மதிப்பிலான அரசு நலத்திட்ட உதவிகளை
57,556 பயனாளிகளுக்கு வழங்கி,

🏢 விருதுநகர் மாவட்ட ஆட்சியர் அலுவலகக் கட்டடம்,

🏫 ரூ.21.36 கோடி செலவில் முடிவுற்ற 34… pic.twitter.com/hIbpBrpJvq

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) November 10, 2024

Explaining the significance of the visit, political commentator Sigamani highlighted how Congress’ Manickam Tagore barely scraped past by 4,379 votes in the Virudhunagar parliamentary constituency.

“Picking up a district in the South means to retain the newly found support and the vote share from the other communities, which also includes the Mukkulathors, who had been supporting the AIADMK until the demise of Jayalalithaa (in 2016),” Sigamani said, adding that DMK would now focus in the other zones where their performance was subpar in the general elections.

Pointing to the assembly electoral data, Duraisamy said that there was a 6 percent increase in the DMK vote share in the southern region.

“This six percent of vote is largely from the Mukkulathors, who now believe that Stalin will be able to help the community thrive socially and economically. Even though their population in Virudhunagar is less, it signals that he is taking care of the people in the region, which will attract the people from all the communities in the region including the Mukkulathors,” he said.

However, the senior leader at the DMK headquarters quoted above denied that everything was being looked upon in the election angle. “Of course everything is politics, but this exercise is largely to build confidence among the people and the party workers.”

Political commentator Sumanth C Raman felt the tours were an exercise to consolidate the DMK’s weak spots in Tamil Nadu.

“The CM is looking at the weak spots and trying to consolidate the party in those districts through a field-inspection programme. It is also evident from that fact that along with the official field inspection, he also meets his party cadres and conducts in-door meetings,” Sumanth said, adding that it was also an exercise to safeguard Udhayanidhi Stalin’s place as there is resentment even within the party against his elevation.

(Edited by Tony Rai)

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