MADURAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will participate in Pappapatti Gram Sabha meeting that is to be held on Gandhi Jayanti.
CM's visit to the caste conflicted Pappapatti village panchayat holds historical significance. Piranmanai Kallars, a caste Hindu group, are in majority in this village and the Scheduled Caste (SC) members belong to the Pallar and Paraiyar communities.
Ever since the reservation of posts for people from SC communities was made mandatory in 1996, the caste Hindus in Pappapatti, Keeripatti and Nattarmangalam had barred SCs from holding the panchayat president post for a very long time. They would not let people from the SC community contest the polls. Even if someone has to contest, they would elect a candidate of their choice and later force them to quit as soon as they take charge. Several elections and byelections have been held since 1996. However, it was of no avail.
In 2006, the DMK-led government was under much pressure from other political parties. Stalin, who was the then Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, and the CM's Secretary, T Udhayachandran, who was the then Madurai Collector, brought an end to the 10-year-long struggle and conducted a smooth election in all three village panchayats. Since then, presidents from SC communities have been elected thrice without much conflict. T Muruganandham, who was holding office of Panchayat President in last tenure in Pappapatti won the polls unopposed while P Manikandan holds the office of Vice President.
Ahead of CM's visit District Collector S Aneesh Sekar inspected the Pappapatti here on Wednesday. The meeting venue is yet to be finalized.