She’s the BJP’s most popular face in Tamil Nadu, but for all her star appeal and reasonably long political career, actor-turned-politician Kushboo Sundar, is contesting only her first election.

Despite serving two stints at the DMK and Congress, Kushboo did not get a ticket to contest polls. Since joining the BJP in September last year, the popular actor has finally made her electoral debut. Her assigned constituency: the former DMK stronghold of Thousand Lights. Her big challenge: the BJP has never won in Tamil Nadu, ever.

“Times are changing and mindsets are changing, and the DMK is losing control of its urban bastions,” says Kushboo when reminded of this statistic, while speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the campaign trail.

“Five years ago, the AIADMK created history when Jayalalithaa was voted back to power for the first time in several years,” she adds, reminding us how the former chief minister bucked Tamil Nadu’s characteristic anti-incumbency in 2016.

5 months after joining the BJP, actor @khushsundar is all set to make her electoral debut in the tamil nadu assembly elections. She tells @JudeSannith24 that the BJP has done a lot for Tamil Nadu without having an MP or MLA. pic.twitter.com/7H8wDisuJG

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) March 23, 2021

“If the DMK thinks that Thousand Lights is a bastion of theirs, I’d like to invite Mr MK Stalin to contest from here instead of having to go off to Kolathur ten years ago,” she says.

Kushboo’s reference is to DMK president MK Stalin’s decision to contest from sub-urban Kolathur in 2011 — an election that not only saw the DMK suffer a humiliating loss to the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK, but had DMK bigwigs leaving well-known bastions and beating a retreat to safer seats. While Stalin vacated the Thousand Lights constituency to contest from Kolathur that year, DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi chose not to contest from his incumbent constituency, Chepauk, and opt for his home district, Tiruvarur, instead.

Over the next two elections, including this one, Stalin has settled in Kolathur while Chepauk has a new candidate in the DMK chief’s son and DMK youth president, Udhayanidhi Stalin, also making an electoral debut. Not surprisingly, Udhayanidhi’s candidacy has come under attack from the DMK and Kushboo is no exception.

“The DMK and Congress only have sons, grandsons and nephews getting tickets to contest from strong seats,” she said, “The fact that deserving candidates from those parties have not been getting seats has led to a commotion between both parties.”

Irrespective of whether or not the DMK believes that Thousand Lights is a bastion or not, its candidate is someone with an impressive body of work and some political pedigree.

Dr Ezhilan Naganathan rose to prominence as a community doctor who has garnered a reputation for making healthcare accessible to the poor. Incidentally, his father, Professor M Naganathan was not only Vice Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Planning Commission, but also a confidante of the Late M Karunanidhi and a Dravidian ideologue.

However, Ezhilan himself says he wants to bank more on reputation than pedigree when canvassing for votes, despite being a “son of the soil.” Education, sanitation, drinking-water and sports are some of his major poll planks for Thousand Lights.

Dr Ezhilan Naganathan

“I started my clinic for the poor here in 2004, and most of my poor patients are also my prospective constituents today,” he tells us as we walk with him on a door-to-door campaign, “They love seeing their doctor coming home and asking them for votes. They came to my clinic for treatment; now, I’m going to their homes as a candidate, seeking out votes.”

Ezhilan is certain that his social activism and socially-sensitive medical practice could ultimately help him win the election. “I’m confident of winning because of my social activism — during the 2015 floods — and the fact that I treated nearly 2,000 patients during COVID-19,” he says, “I don’t have an iota of doubt that I’m going to win.”

It won’t be his body of work alone, though, that could possibly get Ezhilan over the line. The doctor has plans for the constituency that are rather elaborate, including personalized administration of 14 wards, construction of new drain pipes and better supply of drinking water. “There is also a dire need to build more sports infrastructure and community halls, here, and that is something we will look at as well,” he says.

Irrespective of whether the DMK or the BJP wins this crucial assembly seat, it seems certain that Thousand Lights will have a debutant as its MLA. Which of these two debutants will win, is the million-dollar question.

First Published:Mar 30, 2021 2:30 PM IST