What are TVK’s chances in this election?

Tamil Nadu has seen various milestones in its political history. One was 1967, the first time a regional party (DMK led by C N Annadurai) defeated the incumbent INC. The other was 1977 when MGR succeeded and became Chief Minister. After 50-plus years, people are now again seeking a strong and charismatic leader. There is a void due to the absence of Jayalalithaa Madam and Kalaignar Karunanidhi and they don’t see MK Stalin as a leader, maybe just an administrator at best. For the DMK too, protecting their money and power is everything. They don’t have any intention to work for the people.

But, the Dravidian parties have huge operational strengths in fighting elections.

So be it. But DMK right now is just a family raj. Law and order has been destroyed. Everywhere I go for campaigns, mothers come to me asking for solutions to the drug menace in TN. Because of all these reasons, the outcome in Tamil Nadu is going to be like what happened with the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Delhi and Punjab. TN this time will give TVK a similar decisive victory like what AAP got in Delhi and Punjab.

Will all the fans who love the star also come and vote?

We make so many strategies and analyse many things at the booth level but we underestimate people and their reactions to their problems. Today, people have the internet in their hands. They are the ones suffering from price rise and poor governance. So if they decide change is important, they will come out to vote. If they come and stand for hours in the sun to catch a glimpse of our leader Vijay, why will they not come out to vote?

Your candidates are barely known to people. Will they have that pull?

Politics today is personality-driven, be it at the state or national level. What is BJP without PM Modi? Why has the Modi effect not worked in TN? Because secular and charismatic leaders like Anna, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa were strong here. People are essentially going to want to elect our leader Vijay as Chief Minister. Our candidates are all middle-class normal people, lots of women and minorities. We have 36 Dalit district secretaries.

Aadhav Arjuna, TVK’s Villivakkam constituency candidate, canvassing for votes | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh

Which section of voters do you think will largely vote for TVK?

TVK is not just a youth party, but one that is seeing a wave of emotion from youth and women. The law and order and safety situation has completely frustrated women of the state. Safety and basic necessities for them are all missing. TN election turnout will go the Pondicherry way, mark my words. In Chennai alone, turnout will reach 85 per cent and more thanks to youth and women.

Vijay, in his speeches, seems to be attacking DMK more than the AIADMK. Is there a chance of offering support to NDA if the race is tight?

The way Stalin’s family is controlling the entire State, the DMK is definitely our political enemy. In that sense, you can say we and AIADMK have common thoughts. However, since EPS aligned with BJP — something that J Jayalalithaa would have never agreed to — he has now lost his leadership and supporter base. In that way, around 40-45 per cent of the field has now been thrown open because of people’s mistrust in DMK and AIADMK. We are clear we are going to form a single majority government. There is no question of a hung assembly. As we said earlier, BJP is an ideological enemy and DMK is our political enemy!

TVK leader Vijay is still not out there in the last leg? Why so many cancellations?

Karur (stampede) is still a trauma for us. It was a man-made issue, and the police, which are responsible for public safety, let us down. Senthil Balaji, fearing the people of Karur, has also now fled the district and is contesting from Coimbatore. Despite having our own crowd management and security teams, we sometimes cancel because of the narrow roads and routes and if we realise that the police strength may not be able to manage. It’s an organic crowd for our leader. We cannot compare that with crowds that are brought by parties for their leaders.

So will there be more campaigns in the last leg?

Earlier, the entire government worked against us and denied permissions for our meetings. But now with the entire state machinery like the DGP, Home Secretary and Intelligence all changed, and the government now under the command of the Election Commission, we are getting permissions easily. Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi road shows) all went on smoothly thanks to the police. You will see more road shows now but we are not able to announce them in advance because of the crowd challenges. We don’t want anyone to get hurt; we lost 41 of our supporters already (in Karur).