A 12-feet model of an LPG cylinder is getting readied in the CPI(M) office in Mahaboobpalayam as a campaign tool for the party and its candidate.
“The size is symbolic of the escalating cost of the domestic LPG cylinder and will power my canvassing in the coming days,” says S.K. Ponnuthayi, who has got the ticket to contest from the Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency.
Earlier this week, with her husband R Karunanidhi at the wheels, she campaigned in his autorickshaw and the news went viral. But she is not exactly amused. “The vehicle has been our source of income for the past two decades and I have been ferried in it innumerable times. Now everybody thinks an autorickshaw driver’s wife has made it big!” she exclaims.
“We both were active party workers and met in the party office two decades ago, got married and decided that one of us will be an active political worker,” says the 46-year-old. Her husband chose to eke out a living by driving an autorickshaw while Ms. Ponnuthayi went on to carve her own path starting from her native Sattur in Virudhunagar district where she joined the Arivoli Iyakkam movement in her teens.
Her father ran a cycle repair shop and as the eldest of six siblings, she dropped out after class XII and joined the Student’s Federation of India. Working in Madurai, she became the State committee member of CPI(M) and the State secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association.
In the last three decades, she has been a relentless field worker and full-time party worker waging a fight against child sexual abuse, violence against women and relocation of TASMAC shops to residential clusters near villages following the ban on liquor shops on highways.
She is a fighter, says Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan. “She comes from a humble background and is a refreshing change in times when elections are all about big money and rich politicians take auto rides only as a gimmick,” he says.
“Ponnuthayi as a grassroots woman candidate, shows the road ahead to the multitudes,” he adds and reminds that Madurai has voted in the past for P. Mohan and N.Nanmaran, who were ordinary citizens with simple backgrounds.
S.K. Ponnuthayi
Pitted against AIADMK’s seasoned politician V.V. Rajan Chellappa, Ms. Ponnuthayi is unruffled and is banking on peoples’ trust and support. Issues that affect the ordinary, middle class and poor people are at the core of her campaign. She believes the giant LPG cylinder model she plans to unveil on her campaign trail next week will be an instant connect with the masses. “The incumbent legislator did not solve the drinking water problem in the constituency among other basic amenities and with more women voting in every election, I know the electorate will hear me loud and clear,” she adds.
Always a hard worker, the routine now from the crack of dawn to well past midnight to meet as many people during door-to-door and other meetings does not fluster her. In the middle of her campaign, Ms. Ponnuthayi, who filed her nomination on Thursday, says, “watch out for my new innovative campaign style in the coming days.” To get more women out into public service is something she sees as key to progress and says, “change will take place only through women.”
V.V. Rajan Chellappa
(Tirupparankundram is one of the oldest Assembly segments in Tamil Nadu since 1957 election. AIADMK has won here eight times and DMK five times. Dr.P. Saravanan is the incumbent MLA who won on DMK ticket and has now joined BJP)