For activists of the DMK and the AIADMK, one way of showing their loyalty is to buy application forms for Assembly tickets, whether they get to contest or not.
CHENNAI: If sycophancy is the oxygen of the Dravidian parties, this time they are making a killing out of it. For activists of the DMK and the AIADMK, one way of showing their loyalty is to buy application-forms for Assembly tickets, whether they get to contest or not. Putting a big price tag on the applications, the parties are cashing in on loyalty, literally.
The AIADMK has raked in a cool Rs 8 crore by selling 8,000 application-forms priced at Rs 10,000 (non-refundable) each. February 1, the opening day of the distribution of the forms, saw a mad rush of leaders, including ministers, MLAs and other ticket aspirants buying more than 1,000 forms, of which 800 were filed in the name of party leader J Jayalalithaa. At the end of the ninth day, more than 1,600 applications were filed in her name.
"It is one way of showing our solidarity to Amma. It is not the money involved, it is a selfless gesture of loyalty," says an AIADMK leader. What goes unsaid is that it is a desperate attempt to get the leader's attention and, probably, a ticket. Along with the ministers who came with wads of currency notes to buy application forms - some of them bought four or five applications each - and to request Jayalalithaa to contest from their districts and constituencies was K Kalimuthu, who resigned as Speaker to become the AIADMK presidium chairman.
The DMK, which has not been doing well in the department, geared up its application distribution drive on Friday, increasing the number of forms from 1,700 to 3,000. "Now on, the rush will increase. At the rate of 30 applications per constituency, we are likely to get 7,000 applications," says DMK organising secretary TKS Elangovan. A large number of DMK applications have been filed in the name of party president M Karunanidhi and deputy general secretary MK Stalin.
Though the party has priced its forms at only Rs 100, the applicant has to make a "non-refundable deposit" of Rs 5,000 for men and Rs 2,500 for women at the time of submission of the application. With a large majority of applicants being men, the party has a target of mopping up a "revenue" of Rs 3 crore.
Meanwhile, AIADMK forms are likely to have more takers as a survey commissioned by The India Foundation shows that the AIADMK is likely to win 146 to 151 of the 234 Assembly seats in the state. About 60 per cent respondents favoured Jayalalithaa as CM.
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