Long faces in parties as plum post goes to Dalit

VELLORE: The busy commercial hub, wears a dull look while it hosts the first ever civic polls after the city was upgraded into a corporation, as electioneering is still on a low key, despite the fact that the battle lines are drawn.While the parties have selected their respective candidates and have completed the process of filing of nominations on Thursday, the functionaries and cadre of the AIADMK and DMK are still unable to conceal their disappointment over the way Vellore has gone in the way of electing a dalit woman as its first mayor. This has also put the dalit population (around 20 per cent) under a lot of pressure to do the tight rope walking. While they have to appease the not-so-enthusiastic party cadre from other castes by maintaining good relationships with them, to uphold amity on one hand, they have to work on strategies for a balanced electioneering to keep their own caste base intact, on the other. Since its inception as a first grade municipality, Vellore has been electing civic leaders from the Mudaliyar community over the past four decades. This community also enjoyed the support of Muslims here on many occasions during elections.In the case of Assembly and Parliament elections, there have been mutual agreement between these communities to choose candidates from among them in a cyclic fashion, both the communities are stumped this time over Vellore going ahead with a dalit woman.Sources reveal that Muslim leaders are also equally disturbed by the quota move. With a voter population of around 25 per cent, a sizable section of Muslims might vent their anger on the ruling AIADMK and the oppostion DMK, for not opposing the move.  Things took a further twist when AIADMK announced that Karthiyayini, a Phd scholar was the mayoral candidate, putting the opposition in a tight spot.