Tamil Nadu polls: Veerappan’s wife, daughter in fray, want to change his image

INdia’s to the highest degree notorious sea poker and sandalwood moon curser Veerappan is plunk for in Tamil Nadu elections through and through his wife and daughter who are contesting from different assembly seats on tickets for two regional outfits. The two say they are fighting to restore his “pride” and claim that he was not an individual as he was projected.Veerappan, who belonged to the Vanniyar community, a major influential group in western Tamil Nadu, was killed by the state police in a forest encounter in Papparappati village in Dharmapuri district in October 2004.His daughter Vidha Rani Veerappan, 35, a lawyer, is contesting in the Mettur assembly segment in Salem district as a candidate of the actor-politician Seeman-led Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), two years after making her poll debut in the 2024 elections. According to the Election Commission, Rani secured 107,000 votes. She bagged 28,000 more votes than the party’s candidate received in the 2019 elections.Similarly, her mother Muthulakshmi Veerappan is also in the poll fray as a candidate of the Tamil outfit Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) in Krishnagiri assembly constituency.Following her husband’s demise, Muthulakshmi Veerappan made her political debut after she unsuccessfully contested in 2006 as an independent candidate in the Pennagaram constituency in Dharmapuri district, another Vanniyar community-dominated district.Though it was widely discussed that she would contest in Krishnagiri constituency in 2024 elections, Muthulakshmi did not contest paving the way for her daughter Vidhya Rani.Muthulakshmi Veerappan is contesting for the first time from the Krishnagiri constituency, which houses a large Vanniyar population.Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi, the party she represents, was earlier an ally of the ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA). However, during seat-sharing negotiations, party founder S Velmurugan decided to leave the alliance apparently upset over his party being “ignored” and the DMK’s “big brother attitude” during the seat-sharing talks.Muthulakshmi Veerappan said, “I have been getting positive response from the people whenever I take up poll campaign.”When asked how her daughter is contesting in Mettur and she contesting in Krishnagiri seat (two different candidates in same family), Muthulakshmi said, “Both of our parties align with the core plank of Tamil nationalism.”“Though I have been meeting people of Mettur, NTK leader Seeman announced that my daughter Vidhya Rani will contest from the Mettur constituency. After discussing with my party, the leadership (TVK president) T Velmurugan nominated me to contest in the Krishnagiri seat.” she said.Rani, when asked whether they (she and her mother) are contesting in two different parties, said their ideologies differ. “My party (NTK) has nominated me to contest from the Mettur assembly seat. I am happy about it,” she said.After taking part in a rally led by NTK chief Seeman, Vidhya Rani said her father was not a criminal as he was projected.Sivagami, a househelp and a resident of Mettur-Kuppam Road said, she heard a lot of good things about Veerappan. “Based on people’s response about him. We think he is a good man. His daughter is contesting in the election. “We hope she will do something good for us,” she said.Another shopkeeper, Rangasamy also echoed similar views that he too hopes Vidhya Rani to do good. “Why I make such a comment because, he was very helpful and has done a lot of good things to poor though Veerappan had lived in forests.”Led by K Vijay Kumar of the Tamil Nadu special task force (STF) under the “Operation Cocoon”, Veerappan and his aides including Sethukuli Govindan, Sethumani were killed in October 2004. He was booked in nearly 175 police cases which include 130 murder cases. While the late Kannada actor Rajkumar was kidnapped and released by him, Veerappan kidnapped and killed former Karnataka minister H Nagappa in 2002.Even during the campaign, Seeman termed that if LTTE president Prabhakaran was guarding the Tamil race, Veerappan was taking care of the forests.Vidhya Rani was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter prior to joining NTK. Before joining the BJP, she was a member of the veteran politician S Ramadoss led Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), representing the Vanniyar community. Veerappan belonged to this same community as well.Political analyst Ramesh Sethuraman said that political parties like Thamizhaga Vaazhvurimai Katchi and Naam Tamilar Katchi want to portray Veerappan as a hero of Tamil community and his wife and daughter are used as a face to get votes.“Veerappan was a ruthless killer and a smuggler who along with his cohorts, was involved in several illegal activities like cutting sandalwood, killing elephants for their tusk, killing forest officials and police officers who were trying to curb his illegal activities,” he said.