Poll Temperature Goes Up a Tad as Rooted TVK Chief Velmurugan Enters Cuddalore Fray
CUDDALORE: Neyveli, a town that came up around the thermal power plant in Cuddalore, is sizzling this summer. And the heat is set to go up higher, with the constituency facing an intense, five-cornered fight with the entry of T Velmurugan of Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK).
The ruling AIADMK has fielded R Rajasekar, while Saba Rajendhran is the DMK candidate. K Jagan for the PMK and T Arumugam of the CPM have already been announced as candidates here. On Monday, Velmurugan announced his decision to go it alone this election from Neyveli.
Once an influential leader of the PMK, Velmurugan was expelled from the party, following which he launched the TVK. The new party targeted the same core constituency of the PMK — the Vanniyars — which had a big impact on PMK’s base.
Local observers told Express that his entering the field will skew the vote draw of his parent party, which has fielded Jagan, once a close aide of Velmurugan and now the president of Vadakuthu village panchayat.
“Ever since he launched the new outfit, Velmurugan has been claiming that his party has a larger support base than the parent outfit in this district. This time, he has to prove that his claim are true. This has put pressure on both parties, which will be felt in the Vanniyar dominated villages here,” said a senior citizen residing at Neyveli Indira Nagar.
This heat is already palpable. Even before the elections were announced, the cadre from both the parties locked horns on several occasions across the district. Now with Velmurugan himself entering the fray, the heat is set to rise in the coming days.
At Neyveli, a significant portion of the votes come from the Neyveli Township, a hub of union activities connected to the lignite mines and the thermal power plant. For long, DMK’s labour wing, the LPF, was one of the key players in the union games here. Now, Anna Workers and Staffs Union of the AIADMK too has emerged as a recognised union. When the contract staff are also factored in, the Left unions, too, enjoy considerable support here.
CPM candidate T Arumugam is thus banking on the support of the contract workers and also from the regular workers attached to the CITU. He also has the support from alliance parties — the VCK, the MDMK and the TMC. The State-run Neyveli Lignite Corporation is an inherent part of politics here, even though invisible. “Usually, a majority of votes from the Neyveli Township would be in favour of the DMK due to the strong presence of Labour Progressive Union. However, we cannot predict which way the higher grade officials, including officers and engineers, and their families, who constitute a significant voting population, would vote this time,” said a worker of NLC.
With such tough election looming in the horizon, “Whoever wins from here will have only a slender margin,” he adds. Interestingly, the candidates of both the AIADMK and the DMK are natives of the same village, Sorathur. AIADMK candidate Rajasekar is the brother of sitting Kurinjipadi MLA Sorathur Rajendhran, an influential figure in this area.