Chennai: Chief minister M K Stalin will launch his assembly election campaign from Tiruvarur on March 31 — a move seen as both symbolic and strategic given DMK’s association with the delta town. A party statement detailed Stalin’s first phase campaign schedule, covering 32 constituencies in three days. It said he will address a public meeting in Tiruvarur South Car Street on Tuesday evening. “He will hold a public meeting in Uzhavar Sandhai in Trichy in the morning and the next at Rayanur in Karur,” the statement said. Stalin will then hold meetings at Chithode in Erode and Codissia grounds in Coimbatore on April 2.Partymen say Tiruvarur held a special significance for DMK as it was the native of the late chief minister M Karunanidhi, who began his political journey there and later represented Tiruvarur assembly segment in 2011 and 2016. Karunanidhi had also commenced his election campaigns in Tiruvarur in his later days. By choosing Tiruvarur as his campaign starting point too, Stalin appears to invoke his father’s legacy.The next reason was strategic, say partymen, to give a jumpstart to the campaign. Stalin had announced free motor pumpsets to farmers on Sunday. Tiruvarur, located in the Cauvery delta region, would suit well as the launchpad for the campaign since free pumpset was a key announcement in DMK’s manifesto. It was also the delta region which gave a sizable number of MLAs for DMK in 2021 election.
