Chennai, Dec 28 (UNI)- Actor-politician Vijayakanth, who passed away on Thursday, was an active politician and equally took both the DMK and he AIADMK in his short and productive stint before ill-health kept him out of active political scenario for the last few years.
He was hailed as Captain by the DMDK cadres and also as Black MGR for his various philanthropic
activities, who fed the hungry and never returned anyone empty handed who went for any help.
He formed the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), a regional political party in Tamil Nadu.
He formally announced the party’s formation on September 14, 2005 in Madurai.
Despite being nascent in the Tamil Nadu political scene that was dominated by DMK and the AIADMK, the DMDK party boldly went alone and contested in all the 234 seats in 2006 assembly elections and won one seat contested by him from Virdhachalam in Cuddalore district securing a vote percentage of 40.49 defeating R.Govindasamy of PMK.
He won his second successive polls in 2011 as an ally of the AIADMK–this time from Rishivandhiyam
with a vote percentage of 53.19 against S.Sivaraj of Congress. However, he contested from Ulundurpet in 2016 Assembly polls and lost it, which eventually turned out to be his last electoral venture. He lost to Kumaraguru of AIADMK.
The DMDK, led by Vijaykanth, proved to be an important and key player in the 2006 Tamil Nadu assembly election, garnering 10% of the voters and securing 10.1% in the subsequent Lok Sabha election. According to the study, it secured more votes than the winning margins of candidates in about 25 constituencies.
In 2006, polling showed that DMDK was able to get more DMK votes than AIADMK votes, wresting more Congress votes from 2004 than any other party.
Vijayakanth declared that he would not ask donations for his party, and most of the funding for the party came from his own pocket. He rejected alliances with other political parties. In a by-election to Madurai Central assembly constituency, DMDK secured around 17000 votes, which was just 2000 votes less than AIADMK. DMDK was also able to secure a significant number of seats in Local Body elections.
In the 2011 election, he formed an alliance with AIADMK and contested in 41 constituencies. His party succeeded in winning 29 of the 41 seats it contested. Notably, DMDK won more seats than the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Vijayakanth occupied the position of MLA for the second time, winning the Rishivandhiyam constituency.
In the polls, the DMDK launched a vigorous campaign to defeat DMK; it made a resolution to call all parties to come together to defeat the ruling DMK in a conference held in Salem.
Following the election, Ms Jayalalithaa and Vijayakanth were involved in a wordy duel in the assembly that started the rift between the two parties resulting in snapping of ties between the two parties.
In the 2014 parliament elections, DMDK forged an alliance with BJP, a non-DMK and non-ADMK alliance of parties such as MDMK, PMK, IJK, and other small parties. PM Modi gave special reference to him in the NDA leaders meet and referred him as his friend.
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