In southern Tamil Nadu, Congress & ADMK on guard against BJP's caste mix

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Tamil Nadu, which host Congress' sitting constituencies such as Kanyakumari, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar, besides Tirunelveli where it is in the fray, are witnessing interesting contests with the Congress leaning a lot on the DMK, while its traditional rival here, the AIADMK, banking on the hope of its core vote base remaining intact in the absence of a charismatic leader even as the BJP is trying to make inroads by attempting a caste concoction.

As the southern part has traditionally being lenient for the Congress in the Dravidian political landscape, the BJP is also trying its luck by tapping the local socio-political flavour. While these seats display Congress' fight to retain its bases, it also showcases BJP's experiments with local social engineering as a vehicle for its Hindutva plank.

While rivals tap on incumbency issues of the sitting MPs and the DMK government, the best hope of the Congress lies in a division of anti-incumbency votes between AIADMK and BJP.

While Kanyakumari hosts a direct, and of late, traditional Congress-BJP contest, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar showcase triangular contests that the southern part is increasingly witnessing. The campaign of Congress' sitting Sivaganga MP, Karti Chidambaram, is focussing on the need to strengthen the Congress tally in the Lok Sabha to oust the Modi government, criticising the Central government's performance and citing the works done by the MP in the constituency which elected his father P Chidambaram multiple times.

Among his tasks is to unite the faction-ridden local Congress and tide over incumbency issues. While AIADMK has fielded Xavier Dass and hopes to be perceived as the main challenger, it also faces the task of averting desertions.