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Thambidurai faces 2 challenges — hat-trick and outplaying Balaji
If Tiruvarur Assembly segment is paramount for the DMK, the Karur LS constituency is above all other seats for the AIADMK. Reason – it is going to be a test of its strength as its estranged strongman, Senthil Balaji, from the district has crossed over to the rival camp of DMK.
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Due to this factor, both the party candidate, Thambidurai, and the state minister MR Vijayabhaskar, a native of the district, face a big challenge that AIADMK does not rely on individual’s strength and Karur is always its citadel.
Interestingly, Thambidurai is trying his luck for a hat-trick win in this segment. In 2009 elections, Thambidurai secured 3.80 lakh votes while his rival KC Palanisamy of DMK got 3.33 lakh votes and in the 2014 general elections, Thambidurai won with 5.40 lakh votes while M Chinnasamy of DMK secured 3.45 lakh votes.
However, this time, the DMK front has allotted the seat to Congress, which chose S Jothimani, the candidate who had secured 30,459 votes during the 2014 elections when Congress faced the elections alone in Tamil Nadu. The Congress candidate Jothimani hopes for a cakewalk because of the support of partners in the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA).The Karur Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly segments spread across four revenue districts - Aravakurichi, Karur, and Krishnarayapuram (SC) in Karur district, Vedasandur from Dindigul district, Manapparai in Tiruchy district and Viralimalai in Pudukottai district with 13.65 lakh voters, including 6.96 lakh women and 64 others, who would exercise their franchise in as many as 1,650 booths on April 18.
While each of the six constituencies have their own and different needs, one of the common demands of the people of all regions is water. This is more so in Vedasandur and Viralimalai region as the two segments face acute water scarcity and farmers are also struggling to raise crops.
Agriculture is one of the predominant occupations of the people in most of the six assembly segments under this central district constituency. Banana, drumstick and betel leaves are the major widely cultivated crops in the region and they are even sent to the other places across the state and the country.
Special demands
Aravakurichi people have been waiting for more than a decade for a processing factory as they produce more than 60 per cent of total drumstick production in the state. Farmers even send them to various other neighboring states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. People are looking forward for a drumstick processing factory to extract oil and make powders from it, so that their crops would get good price. Such a facility would also increase the employment opportunities in their region, say farmers flagging this as their major poll demand.
Likewise, Krishnarayapuram, Lalapet, Kulithalai and Pugalur regions cultivate banana and betel leaves on thousands of hectares. While the farmers put forth their list of requests seeking various measures to promote these two crops, another group of people is demanding opening of quality educational institutions. Students from Krishnarayapuram, Vedasandur and Viralimalai should either travel more than 40 km to reach Karur or 50 plus km to other nearby districts for college education.
One of the main requests that was put forth to all the previous MPs by the residents of Karur district, is to introduce a new train service to Chennai starting from Karur station in the morning and also desilting and filling up the state’s third largest lake at Panjapatty along with Thathampalayam lake. While the first demand – a separate train to Chennai - would help Karur residents to have a ‘confirmed’ and comfortable trip to Chennai, the second appeal – desilting of Panjapatty lake – would help the district in a big way in overcoming the water problem.
Main contenders
M Thambidurai
One of the senior leaders of the AIADMK, who has served in various capacities, including Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, union minister. The 72-year-old started his political career as a member of the youth wing and student activist of the erstwhile united DMK in 1965 at the age of 18. He participated in the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 and courted arrest. He was among the founding-members and first generation of the AIADMK in 1972 after MGR walked out of the DMK. He was elected MLA from Erode in 1977 and was first elected as a Member of Parliament to the 8th Lok Sabha in 1984 from Karur (Lok Sabha constituency). He was twice elected as MLA from Bargur in 2001 & 2006 and served as a state minister. He is member of the Trust of Adhiyamaan Educational and Research Institutions, Chennai, St Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research Chennai, Lakshmi Sarawathi Educational Trust, Chennai and Kovai Kalaimagal Educational Trust which is managed by his wife T Bhanumathi.
S Jothimani
The 42-year-old Congress candidate, S Jothimani, entered politics at the age of 22. She is also a writer and social activist. She was an active worker in Indian Youth Congress and a close associate of the Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Presently, one of the AICC general secretaries. She represented the Indian Youth Congress at international fora like American Council for Young Political Leaders that was held in the US in 2006 and Asian Young Leader’s Summit 2009 in Malaysia. She was elected the councillor of K Paramathi panchayat union for two consecutive terms from 1996 to 2006. As a writer, she had published a collection of short stories ‘Ottrai vasanai,’ a novel ‘Sithirakkoodu’ and a few skill development books. She was also awarded the prestigious ‘Ilakkiya Sindhanai’ award for best short story collection in 1999, ‘Shakthi’ award for best short stories collection in 2007. She had served as the Member, Tamil Nadu Censor Board from 2006-2009.
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