http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070618012855&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0
SOUTHERN NEWS - TAMIL NADU Jun 19, 2007 VCK bid to win Dalit hearts down south Monday June 18 2007 11:50 IST TIRUNELVELI: The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) strained every nerve to establish itself down South by organising the ''land rights'' conference here on Sunday. With a sizeable presence in the northern districts, dominated by the parayars, the VCK was unable to make inroads into the pallar-dominated districts of Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram, supported which are behind Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT) leader Dr Krishnasamy. ''Now, the VCK is trying its luck among the Dalits in the southern districts, where the Puthiya Tamizhagam is losing its clout,'' said Professor Manikumar of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, a noted scholar in the field of Dalit studies. ''As the thinly populated *parayars* in the southern districts are docile, unlike their brethren in the northern districts, the land rights conference of the VCK is likely to mobilise at least the parayars, whose right for land holding has not been properly addressed by any Dalit leadership for long,'' the Professor remarked. Accepting that the purpose of the land rights conference was to create a feeling among the community that the VCK is the sole political representative of the whole lot of Dalits, remaining leaderless in the southern districts now, highly placed sources in the party said that Thirumavalavan was very particular in making the Chief Minister participate in the land rights conference so as to demonstrate VCK's political influence among other Dalit sections in the region. Charging that the VCK was transporting their cadre from the northern districts for the conference, Thoothukudi district secretary of Puthiya Tamizhagam Athisayakumar claimed that his party still has credibility among the Dalits. Whatever might be the argument, the VCK is likely to win the hearts of the Dalits down south because of its meticulously carved political strategy, conspicuously missing with the Puthiya Tamizhagam.
