Contesting elections for the Lok Sabha for the first time, he is not willing to take any chances, and is leaving no stone unturned. The controversial son of the ageing DMK supremo, who was charged and later acquitted for the murder of a DMK minister, had been banished from Chennai several years back, following constant clashes between his and his brother, Stalin�s supporters.

After being out of favour with his father for years, a family truce was worked out over a year back, which is now seen in him getting a ticket to fight the Lok Sabha elections. The result is that he has just unleashed money power on the constituency, on a scale unprecedented in Tamil Nadu elections. For every vote, he is alleged to be distributing Rs.500, but has found ingenious ways of doing it, which has left the Election Commission helpless despite a flurry of complaints from the rival camp.

A journalist of a prominent Tamil weekly in Madurai confirmed about this largesse being distributed. �One morning last week, I woke up and found four envelopes in the compound of my house. It contained Rs.500 each�. Apparently for the four votes in his house, including that of his wife, his parents apart from himself. He has no idea like most others, who threw the envelopes into his house, and nor does the envelopes contain any indication of who is �gifting� it.

As complaints about such daring methods of bribing the voters started pouring in, the Election Commission, deployed a special Observer, M.Madan Gopal, a Karnataka cadre IAS officer, known to be one of the toughest and no-nonsense officers in the service in the country, to handle the situation. As soon as he arrived last week, he went about raiding houses of the sympathisers and henchmen of Azhagiri. He even broke open the locks of a known rowdy sheeter, apparently one of the right hand men of the Azhagiri, and discovered bundles of sarees kept for distribution. That seems to have slowed down the distribution of sarees.

However, the distribution of money goes on merrily. Azhagu, a watchman in a tile company in Kunnathur, about 30 kms. from Madurai, confirmed about it rather innocently. Being a Communist supporter, he had made up his mind to vote for the CPI (M) candidate, P.Mohan, who also won from here in 2004. Known to be most down to earth, Mohan had won the heart of Azhagu, when he dropped him in his vehicle a couple of times to Madurai, and even helped him in recovering the House which he had mortgaged.

However to his dismay, late last week, he found when he went back home after his duty, that his wife had accepted Rs.2000 from Azhagiri�s supporters, for the four votes in his house. �I fought with her and abused her for having accepted the money�, he said adding, that �it is very wrong to take money to vote. It is our sovereign right, and we should not sell it�. However, now he is caught in a situation, where he feels that �it won�t be right not to vote after having accepted the money�. So he has asked his wife and his son to vote for Azhagiri, while the other two votes, his and his daughter�s will be for the �communist�.

While such practical compromises are worked out by people like Azhagu, Madurai has in fact become the most discussed constituency in Tamil Nadu, with the word having spread about the large scale bribery of voters. A journalist in Madurai asserts that about 8 lakhs of the 11 lakh voters have been targeted by Azhagiri�s men to distribute the largesse.

The Election Commission is aware of the various ingenious methods being employed to distribute cash, though distribution of sarees has stopped, after the raids. The milk men and newspaper distribution boys are being employed to throw the envelopes along with their daily chore. On some occasions when the Commission�s special observer, tried to check after receiving a complaint, the boys had disappeared by the time they could reach. And worse, none of those who had apparently received the envelopes were willing to testify that they had.

Another ingenious method employed is to send the cable TV bill collectors to go and inform the subscribers that they will get their cable connection free for the next six months. The majority of the cable business in Madurai is being controlled by Azhagiri, through his Cable TV network.

An industrialist from Madurai, also confirming about such activities, admitted that no one is willing to go and testify, as they are scared of the muscle power of Azhagiri. �We would be in mortal danger if he comes to know about it. They stop at nothing. Imagine when they can kill their own Minister, who are we?�

Meanwhile, Mohan, considered by most Madurai residents as decent and most accessible as well as simple, he still cycles around the city, however has unfortunately fallen ill, and has been admitted to a hospital in Chennai, for a surgery. This has come as a blessing in disguise for Azhagiri, as he rides rough shod using the lethal combination of money and muscle power, as the fear-struck Maduraites, watch helplessly.