Stalin's grassroots outreach to bolster DMK base

IF there is a common link among Coimbatore, Virudhunagar, and Ariyalur, the districts that Chief Minister MK Stalin had visited over the past two weeks, and Villupuram, which he is scheduled to visit this week, it is that these districts are among the DMK's not-so-strong areas where the party may have to strengthen its base as it aims to win 200 of 234 seats in the 2026 assembly poll.

- K EZHILARASAN

After completing his field inspection (kala aaivu) of government programmes in these districts, the CM may visit other districts.

The DMK chief commenced his inspection from Coimbatore, an electorally important district for the party, on November 5. The DMK had laid special focus on Coimbatore during the 2024 parliamentary election as the district minister in-charge, V Senthil Balaji, was in jail and BJP state president K Annamalai was desperately seeking a victory from there.

Although DMK candidate Ganapathy Rajkumar won the seat with a margin of 1,18,000 votes, the DMK had reasons to worry as the total votes polled by BJP and AIADMK was more than that of DMK. The re-entry of Senthil Balaji into the state cabinet, however, has rekindled DMK's hope for a resounding victory in the district, and Stalin, too, chose Coimbatore to start his outreach programme.