The bypoll to five Assembly seats in August is an opportunity for the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) to prove its mettle that it is a party on the rise. For the party, which since its inception five years ago, has staked claim to the legacy of matinee idol and former chief minister M G Ramachandran, the bypoll boycott by MGR’s own AIADMK is undoubtedly a boost. If MGR’s die-hard fans decide to cast their votes, the DMDK can project itself as a strong claimant.

In fact, the pitch has already begun. Introducing the candidates fielded by his party in Madurai, party founder and actor Vijayakanth said MGR loyalists should “vote for a better party” like they did for MGR continuously for a decade till his death. The actor, also known as ‘Black MGR’, presented his party as a viable alternative to Opposition leader J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK and as a credible opposition to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s DMK. “The DMK could not come to power when MGR was alive,” he said to drive home the point.

In this election, the outcome of which has been termed a ‘foregone conclusion’ by Jayalalithaa, the DMDK has emerged as a contender to the DMK-Congress combine, though a win looks beyond its reach at this point of time.

In its first election, the 2006 Assembly polls, Vijayakanth was the lone MLA from his party. But the party garnered over eight per cent votes. Last Lok Sabha elections, it touched double figures, with nine out of the 40 candidates crossing one-lakh vote mark and another seven polling over 80,000 votes. However, beyond the gradual rise in numbers, the party has remained a bits and pieces player who can at best be a spoilsport. The August 18 bypoll is, thus, an opportunity for the party to make its mark, even if it is aided by the boycott of all Opposition parties, barring the Left.

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