Salem: Two decades after dreaded forest robber Veerappan was killed in a police encounter in Tamil Nadu, his daughter and widow are attempting to rewrite his story – from a dreaded outlaw to a defender of Tamil rights – through electoral politics.Veerappan’s elder daughter Vidyarani, 35, an advocate, is contesting from the Mettur constituency as a Nam Tamilar Katchi candidate, while his widow Muthulakshmi is contesting from Krishnagiri on behalf of the Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi. Both parties support ‘Tamil nationalism’.“Had my father been alive today, he too would have entered the democratic process,” says Vidyarani, who is contesting the election for the second time. He had earlier contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Krishnagiri as an NTK candidate, in which he received more than one lakh votes.For Muthulakshmi too, it marks a comeback to politics after debuting as an independent candidate in the 2006 assembly elections.Instead of turning away from Veerappan’s controversial legacy, both women have embraced it and want to repaint it in their own colors. “He was not as dreaded a criminal as he was portrayed to be. He stood against exploitation and injustice,” Vidyarani said at a rally in Mettur. His campaign echoes NTK’s core plank of Tamil nationalism.NTK chief Seeman was vocal in his support for Veerappan. Campaigning for him, he said, “If Prabhakaran (LTTE chief) was the guardian of our caste, Veerappan was the guardian of our forests.”Vidyarani’s political journey began with Pattali Makkal Katchi, which draws support from Vanniyars, a numerically strong community spread across more than a dozen districts of Tamil Nadu. She joined the BJP in 2020, before switching to NTK in 2024.In Krishnagiri, Muthulakshmi focuses on the agrarian crisis in her campaigns. “I have been among farmers. My fight is for water, crops and respect,” she told TOI.Both say that they do not face any hostility because of their past. “On the contrary, people respect us,” Vidyarani said.Observers believe his entry could hurt AIADMK’s ally PMK, especially in the Vanniyar-dominated Mettur and Krishnagiri belts. Although no candidate has put forward a caste, he is expected to attract a part of the community’s votes, which is otherwise expected to go to the PMK.