‘Three musketeers’ in Theni battlefield

Now itself it is a high voltage battle as the two of the arch rivals Ravindranath and Thanga Tamilselvan are on a hectic campaign with their armies on the field.

In fact, the battle, which drew attention from the day the AIADMK announced Ravindranath, as its candidate, gradually intensified as every party declared prominent face as its nominee.

The last elite personality to enter the fray in the southern district seat was the Congress heavyweight EVKS Elangovan. With his foray, it turned out into a triangular fight in the constituency, which is an AIADMK citadel.

Theni, with a total electorate strength of 15.32 lakh, is relatively a new constituency as it was formed after the delimitation exercise in 2008. Previously, the constituency was part of Periyakulam Lok Sabha constituency. After delimitation Periyakulam constituency was removed and made part of Theni constituency.

Located on the foot of the Western Ghats, the constituency comprises six Assembly segments of Bodinayakkanur, Cumbum, Periyakulam, Andipattu, Sholavandhan and Usilampatti. At present, it is represented by the AIADMK, which won in all the six assembly constituencies in the 2016 polls.

While AIADMK fielded Ravindranath, son of Deputy Chief Minister, O Panneerselvam, Dhinakaran fielded one of his key commanders Thanga Tamilselvan as AMMK candidate. He was an AIADMK powerhouse in Theni district in the past and was later dismissed along with 17 other MLAs, who stood with the Mannargudi clan.

Though Theni being the home town of Ravindranath and dominated by members of his community can be an advantage, the same factor is also the strength of his prime opponent Thanga Tamilselvan (also from the same community), who will also get significant percentage of the community votes.

The constituency is now itself witnessing a high-voltage campaign and is set to heat up further in the days to come.

The attack on each other by both the candidates every day is becoming the talk of the town in this pocket. Even in the initial round itself, Thanga Tamilselvan made a fierce attack on Ravindranath saying, “he does not have any qualification to contest in the election except being the son of Deputy CM Panneerselvam.” In a strong counter, Ravindranath said, “Lok Sabha election is not RK Nagar by-poll as people are aware of what is happening.”

What intensified the battle at Theni was the entry of EVKS Elangovan, the Congress candidate as part of the DMK alliance. The biggest ‘negative factor’ for Elangovan is the outsider tag.

However, political experts said that though Elangavon is an outsider to the constituency he cannot be taken lightly. Political analyst, Ravindran Duraisamy told DT Next, “After the demise of former AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, members of other castes may not vote for either Ravindranath or Thanga Tamilselvan. As BJP is with AIADMK, Elangovan has a greater chance of bagging the votes of members of minorities as well.” Along with this, if Elangovan manages to win the support of secular groups he can very well spring a surprise as members of other communities constitute around 40 percentage of total votes in the constituency, said Ravindran Duraisamy.