Vijay drives tractor on farm fields, seeks votes in Madurantakam

Madurantakam: TVK President and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, known for his penchant for driving vehicles at official events, chose a different vehicle altogether on Friday, a tractor, amid his busy campaigning for the October 6 bypolls. When Vijay’s motorcade was going past a village near here, it came to a screeching halt on a roadside location where a farmer was operating a tractor. The chief minister, clad in a white shirt and dhoti, got down from his campaign vehicle and walked straight to the agricultural fields and had a word with the farmer on the tractor, who warmly welcomed him. Moments later, Vijay was behind the steering and drove the tractor on the slushy farm fields for a few minutes and eventually brought it out onto the main road where waiting people greeted him for his successful attempt, as driving a tractor was not like driving any other class of vehicle.

The CM thanked the farmer for allowing him to drive his tractor. Patting the ryot on his shoulder, the chief minister posed for a selfie with him. Vijay held a roadshow here across villages seeking votes for his party candidate Maragatham Kumaravel in the Madurantakam Assembly Constituency. During his campaign, Vijay often hopped out of his vehicle to meet the people waiting for him. He visited differently-abled persons at a village, and walked to a farmland where agricultural labourers were working and briefly interacted with all of them.

He also sipped tea at a nondescript shop with the locals. Interestingly, seeing a woman and her child performing the traditional ‘Arathi’ to ward off evil eyes, he got down from his vehicle, and he himself performed the same for them and applied tilak to the mother and child duo. Vijay has driven vehicles, including a car, in official events.