Vadivelu: DMK''s star campaigner

suchithkc

Andipatti, Apr 6 : Hundreds of people wait in the scorching sun for over an hour at a street in this town in Theni district of Tamil Nadu.
The crowd breaks into raptures and raises slogans and flock a tempo traveller which approaches them at a snail''s speed.
The vehicle stops and suddenly there is a studied silence but seconds later, the crowd goes berserk when a frail-looking man appears from the tempo and holds a mike to address the gathering.
The man for whom the people have been waiting for is none other than Tamil comedian Vadivelu, who has now emerged as the ''star campaigner'' for the ruling DMK-Congress combine.
Like politicians, he doesn''t give a very lengthy speech in classical Tamil. He speaks in a very plain and colloquial Tamil with a slang that is quite common in Madurai and other parts of southern Tamil Nadu.
And most of the times, his target is only person - Vijayakant, his colleague in tinsel town and president of DMDK, which has aligned with Opposition AIADMK.
With his simple speech that has a mix of comedy and sarcasm, Vadivelu draws huge crowds to places wherever he goes after the DMK''s strongman in Madurai and Union minister M K Alagiri fielded him in the election campaign.
Alagiri rightly used a small tiff between Vadivelu and Vijayakant for the party''s political gains.
In this stronghold of AIADMK and the constituency which is currently held by AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, he spared none. He took potshots at Jayalalithaa, Vijayakant and the parties which they head.
He doesn''t read from a written speech like politicians and he talks to people in simple language and sometimes converts it into an interactive session with voters.
Flanked by DMK candidate Mukaiah in this AIADMK stronghold, Vadivelu asks the frenzied crowd, "Jayalalithaa was elected from this constituency twice. What has she done?"
The crowd becomes silent suddenly. He asks again "what has she done?" The crowd says "no" in a very low voice. But, Vadivelu continues to attack Jayalalithaa and her coalition partner Vijayakant.