Biggies in battle: Ex-ministers engaged in big fight at Arakkonam

Arakkonam is all set to witness a tight fight between two big tickets – AK Murthy (PMK) and Jagathrakshakan (DMK), both former union ministers – in this year’s Lok Sabha election.

The northern district constituency, popular for such contests, has a total electorate of 14.79 lakh voters and also holds the credit of having been represented by several union ministers in the past. To quote a few R Velu and Jagathrakshakan.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election, AIADMK candidate Hari who defeated Jagathrakshakan of DMK. However, in 2019 election AIADMK allotted the seat to its ally PMK, which has won from the segment in the past.

Former union minister A K Moorthy is the candidate of Ramadoss’ party in this election, while DMK has retained Jagathrakshakan as its nominee.

A look back at the history of the constituency shows that Congress had won the maximum number of times, ever since the formation of the segment in 1977.

Though DMK and AIADMK had won two times each, PMK too holds significant number of votes as the region has a strong presence of Vanniyars. Six assembly constituencies, Tiruttani, Arakkonam, Sholingur, Ranipet, Arcot and Katpadi come under the Arakkonam constituency. Of the six assembly segments, AIADMK and DMK share equal number of MLAs at present.

Both Jagathrakshakan and Moorthy are already on the field and have been trading barbs adding spice to the campaign.

While Moorthy trained guns on Jagathrakshakan and DMK with liquor lobby rant, Jagathrakshakan tore the PMK calling it a party with an eye on cash and bereft of ideals and objectives.

The presence of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), which has fielded N G N Parthiban, former MLA from Sholingur, will certainly intensify the fight in this constituency. Parthiban, who is an equally popular face like the two biggies, wields considerable influence in the constituency. The disqualification from the Assembly proved a blessing in disguise for him as his popularity increased after the Speaker’s action. Locals say Parthiban was a key confidante of Dhinakaran and that was the main reason for his disqualification and him being given the LS poll ticket in the AMMK.

Jagathrakshakan, basically a businessman and an educationist, was a Minister in UPA-II cabinet. Before coming to the DMK, he was in the AIADMK and a close associate of former Chief Minister, M G Ramachandran. He was elected twice, 1980 and 1984, during MGR period. After the demise of MGR, he quit AIADMK and joined DMK. In DMK, he won twice from Arakkonam constituency, once in 1999 and then in 2009. He is also a writer and has authored more than 30 books. One of the books was released by Mother Theresa. Most of his election rivals target Jagathrakshkan with the distillery unit, which he runs, as it is one of the major suppliers to the TASMAC.

Former Minister of state for Railways, A K Moorthy, won appreciation from ex- PM A B Vajpayee, during his tenure in the union cabinet. He was elected for the first time in 1999 from Chengalpattu and was made the Union Minister. He again won from the same constituency in 2004. Moorthy, one of the close associates of PMK founder Ramadoss, always enjoys a special place in the PMK. The advantages for Moorthy is that he is easy accessible to people. As a minister, he was instrumental in increasing the number of stoppages of trains, which are bound for other states, in northern parts of Tamil Nadu. He also introduced several new trains from the state.