No Buzz For The Fade-Outs

Deepa, who had famously declared on Jayalalitha’s birth anniversary on February 24 that she would definitely contest the R.K. Nagar bypoll, has kept her word and filed her nomination. But the buzz surrounding her candidature has already faded after she fell out with her husband, who floated his own yet-to-be-named party to challenge her MGR Amma Deepa Peravai (MAPD). An angry Deepa even avoided mentioning her husband Madhavan’s name from the spouse column of her nomination papers.

On the day she went to file her papers, the usual excitement that was associated with her in the immediate aftermath of Jayalalitha’s death was conspicuously absent. “The AIA­DMK cadres have quickly become disillusioned with her political imm­aturity and have narrowed their choice between T.T.V. Dinakaran and O. Panneerselvam. No one takes Deepa seriously, including her husband,” observes Rajendran, an auto driver from the R.K. Nagar constituency and a diehard MGR fan, who is yet to make up his mind between ‘lamp post’ and ‘hat’.

The other comic interlude came from Amaran, younger brother of music legend Ilaiyaraaja and also a music director and film-maker in his own right. He had joined the BJP when Sasikala became the AIADMK general secretary—his only qualification that Sasikala had allegedly arm-twisted him to sell his beach house for an abysma­lly low price during Jayalalitha’s first term. “I want to teach Sasikala a lesson,” he had said on joining the BJP.

After the BJP fielded him, with an eye on the sizable Dalit votes in the constitue­ncy, Amaran joked that a chair with his name was ­already res­erved for him in the assembly. He met Rajinikanth and circulated their photo together, implying he had the superstar’s support. A clever Raj­inikanth quickly clarified that he was supporting no one in the bypoll, leaving Amaran with a sheepish smile.