Chennai, March 20 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is also the president of the DMK, will commence the election campaign of the INDIA bloc from Friday.

DMK leader and state Minister K.N. Nehru is in charge of Friday's inaugural programme which will begin from Siruganur in Tiruchi.

Minister Nehru while speaking to IANS said that the programme will be addressed by Chief Minister Stalin, MDMK leader Vaiko and a galaxy of senior leaders of the INDIA bloc. Vaiko's son and senior MDMK leader Durai Vaiko is the INDIA bloc candidate from Tiruchi.

The minister, who was often referred to as a man of big programmes by late DMK leader and former Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi and now Stalin is overseeing the entire preparations for the programme.

Tiruchi is considered as a lucky point to start an election campaign and the DMK, which is a political formulation based on Periyar's ideology of atheism, ironically commences its election voyage from Tiruchi. Karunanidhi himself referred to Tiruchi as 'Thiruppumunai Tiruchi' (turning point Tiruchi) and Stalin also refers to Tiruchi with nostalgia.

Minister Nehru said that the Chief Minister will visit all the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across the state and would introduce the INDIA bloc candidates.

The DMK is contesting 21 seats, Congress nine, CPI(M) two, CPI two, VCK two, MDMK one, IUML one and KMDK one.

In the 2019 general elections, the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by the DMK won in 38 of the 39 seats it contested and CM Stalin is now aiming at a clean sweep in the 2024 polls.

The Chief Minister had in his address to the party cadres and local leaders asserted to work hard at the grassroots to ensure a total victory to all the INDIA bloc candidates.

/IANS