'Silent' Baalu eyes clean sweep in Sriperumbudur

Residents in dire need of govt intervention to address critical infra gaps, including drinking water scarcity & inundation during monsoon.

- S KUMARESAN

THE poll vehicles of the DMK hit the streets of Sriperumbudur early in the morning and go around till 9 am. The candidate, 82-year-old party treasurer and sitting MP, TR Baalu remains silent at all the campaign stops while his junior leaders do all the talking. However, when it comes to his prospects, there is an air of supreme confidence in the team for several reasons.

First, Baalu emerged victorious here in 2019 with a whopping 56.53% share of votes. Second, though he faces anti-incumbency from a section of voters, the wind is in his favour as the constituency is a DMK stronghold. The party had won here in nine out of the past 15 elections. Plus, all six assembly segments are being held by the DMK alliance. Finally, his opponents, including AIADMK's G Premkumar and VN Venugopal of TMC (part of the NDA alliance), are debutants in electoral politics.

The six-time Lok Sabha MP had made Chennai South his turf for the four elections from 1996 to 2004. He shifted to Sriperumbudur and won from the constituency in 2009. In 2014, he contested from his native Thanjavur but lost, and returned to Sriperumbudur in 2019. This is his first re-election bid from the constituency, the largest in the state with over 23 lakh voters.

While the TMC cadre are putting in a lot of effort to win the seat, it looks like the AIADMK has given up even before the battle began. Premkumar refused to talk to TNIE on his vision for the constituency and his party workers said he has been asked not to speak to the media or address any poll campaign on his own.