If in the power struggle between PMK founder Dr. Ramadoss and his son Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, the latter emerged on top wresting the party’s symbol Mango, in Pennagaram constituency, touted as the “PMK-citadel,” another son has appeared on the turf purportedly to avenge his father, both of whom were cited as the reason for the split in the PMK.

Congress has fielded G.K.M. Tamil Kumaran, the son of Pennagaram’s incumbent (ex-PMK ) MLA G.K. Mani, and the former PMK honorary president, now purged from the party along with the pack of the old guard, led by the PMK’s founder Dr. Ramadoss.

On a recent Saturday morning, when Mr. Tamil Kumaran, joined the Congress in the presence of party general secretary K.C. Venugopal, in a near-miss event, in New Delhi, it raised eyebrows. DMK’s constituency list released the same afternoon connected the dots. The Dravidian party with a strong presence in Pennagaram with a consistent vote base of close to over 75,000 votes had ceded the constituency to the Congress. For many, it was less of a coup by the Congress, and more of a DMK-intrigue. “There are barely 2,000 Congress votes in Pennagaram,” said the DMK cadre in Pennagaram.

Mr. Kumaran has tested this fray, having contested the 2010 bye-elections in Pennagaram under the PMK against the DMK’s winning candidate P.N.P. Inbasekaran. The seat was vacated on the death of Mr. Inbasekaran’s father and sitting MLA P.N. Periannan, a former PMK man himself, who joined the DMK with his followers.

A two-cornered contest

The PMK is a party in fix in Pennagaram with over 68% Vanniyar population. If the “DMK-intrigue” challenges its assumption of grip over the seat, there is also the image of the party on the ground. In Pennagaram, the party was traditionally identified with Mr. Mani and Dr. Ramadoss. The old-timers see the party as their labour. “The party was ‘raised’ by Mr. Mani, and we have seen Mr. Mani as “little boys” and came into the party. Why wouldn’t we vote for his son,” ask some in the PMK. The PMK candidate Paadi V. Selvam, is hardly seen as a challenge.

Therefore, for Mr. Kumaran, as locals see it, it is personal and therefore a high-stake fight in need of a victory. A Congress win will be seen as a sweet revenge not just for Mr. Kumaran, but also for the Mr. Mani’s followers here.

All the same, there is festering intra-party friction within the two Dravidian parties as well. Rumblings of discontent within the DMK for having ceded the seat to the Congress, denying the two-term MLA P.N.P. Inbasekaran the seat in his turf is acknowledged but is also hoped to be stemmed in the larger interest of a win.

Similarly, the AIADMK has its own dissidents for ceding the seat to the PMK once again. Yet, the local party workers believe, ‘the AIADMK votes will be retained but those of the VCK, PMK and the DMK will be eroded by the TVK in Pennagaram.”

In 2016, when Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss positioned himself as the Chief Ministerial candidate under the slogan of “Matram-Munnetram” and fought the seat as a sitting MP, he could commandeer only 58,402 votes, which could be safely seen as the true PMK votes. Today, this voter base is headed for three-way split.

In Pennagaram, if the AIADMK commandeered over 50,000 votes and the PMK another 50,000 votes on an ordinary election, this time, PMK if diminished by its own fratricidal strife, is also challenged by Vijay’s TVK.

A section of the PMK’s youth formerly allied with Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, has found an aspirational new leader in actor Vijay. Hordes of first-time voters from ‘PMK families’ and under 35 age group are openly pledging their vote to TVK, with the intent of swaying their families too.

If the fallout of the fratricidal strife in the PMK were to have a ground zero, it is the Pennagaram constituency, where it will be tested in two weeks.