Twenty-eight year old R. Priya of the DMK will be the first woman dalit Mayor of Chennai. Priya will be formally elected by the councillors of Chennai corporation soon. After winning with a thumping majority in the urban local body polls, the DMK formally released the list of the candidates for the mayor, municipality and town panchayat chairman posts, who will be elected by the councillors.
Priya will be the youngest and the third woman mayor in Chennai corporation's 340-year history. Tara Cherian was the first woman mayor in the 1950s while Kamakshi Jayaraman was the second woman mayor in the 1970s. Priya won as the councillor from Ward 74, Mangalapuram in Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s Kolathur constituency.
Hailing from a DMK family, Priya is not new to politics. Her grand father Chengai Sivam was a former MLA from Perambur, in North Chennai. And her father is Rajan is an area co-secretary in DMK. Priya was a natural choice by the DMK leadership, as the mayor post was reserved for a dalit woman. However, Priya did not have any expectations, even when she won with a thumping majority in ward 74. With a masters in commerce from Kanayaka Parameswari Arts and Science college, Priya was recently hooked into active politics after Stalin’s victory. It was after the 2021 elections, inspired by Stalin’s dedication and hard work, Priya went to work for the people in her area.
Earlier, the DMK announced the mayor candidate for the 21 corporations in Tamil Nadu, which went for elections recently. Tamil Nadu as a whole will have 11 woman mayors including Chennai. In Kanchipuram, 36-year-old Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj who quit her Infosys job to get into politics will be the mayor.
The DMK has also given a sizeable number of top corporation and municipality posts to its alliance partners. DMK’s prime and long-term ally Congress was given the mayorship for Kumbakonam, two deputy mayors and six municipal chairman posts and town panchayat positions. Among other allies, the deputy mayor’s post in Madurai corporation has been allotted to the CPI(M) and in Tiruppur corporation, it has been given to the CPI. For Tiruppur corporation, Australia-educated Dinesh (42) has been announced as the mayor candidate. An MDMK candidate would be nominated for the deputy mayor’s post in the newly created Avadi corporation in Tiruvallur district. Similarly, Thol Thirumavalavan’s VCK has been provided the deputy mayor’s post in Cuddalore corporation.
The DMK with these allotments to the alliance partners seems to have understood the dynamics of keeping the alliance flock together and expressed an inclusive nature.
