The fight for the Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister seat is getting murkier day by day. However, it touched a new low today when the O Panneerselvam camp, which claims to be Amma’s true heir, paraded a dummy displaying her dead body in coffin while campaigning in Jayalalitha’s constituency RK Nagar.
The campaigner Azhagu Tamilselvi was seen parading around with the dummy and addressing the people of RK Nagar along with the former Education Minister Mafoi Pandiarajan.
Dressed in a green sari and a garland, the dummy was even wrapped in the Tiranga and was meant to tug the heartstrings of those who loved Amma.
#OPS camp leader says #Amma has come asking for justice. Note how the two lights symbol has been perched on #Jayalalithaa‘s dummy body. pic.twitter.com/Sshl9UT6h8
— T S Sudhir (@Iamtssudhir) April 6, 2017
Though using the death of leaders to garner votes is nothing new in the history of Indian politics, this was the first time that a party recreated the final journey of their own leader.
However, the move has been condemned by other politicians. As per a report in The News Minute, DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi said, “It is their leader, they should show her some respect. You can’t do anything for the sake of votes.”
Ever since his fallout with Jayalalitha’s closest ally VK Sasikala, the former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has been alleging that he was kept in the dark about the treatment given to Amma and has questioned her death.
Though the OPS faction has been pulled up by Election Commission for carrying Amma’s fake dead body in the streets of RK Nagar, this latest stunt by his camp proves that politicians can stoop down to any level and can do anything for the sake of votes.
The RK Nagar seat has been vacant since the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5.
Those contesting for the seats are: TTV Dinakaran from Sasikala’s faction; E Madhusudanan from the OPS camp and Jayalalithaa’s niece, Deepa Jayakumar.
The bypolls for the seat will be held on April 12 and the results will be announced on April 15.
