THENI: A breeze pregnant with verdure slowly takes over as the road snakes up the lush Western Ghats. The calm of the scenic landscape is mirrored in the faces of agricultural labourers heading in small groups to the temple of their deity Ellaramman to celebrate ‘Panguni Uthiram’ festival. Devotional songs, flowing out from the loud speakers, add a touch of divinity to the air. For the villagers, seemingly cut off from the outside world, this is the time for celebration and to forget their trials and tribulations, and neglect.
Welcome to Kottakudi, Muthuvakudi and Naripatti hamlets on Kurangani hills in the Bodinayakanur Assembly constituency, represented by three-time chief minister O Panneerselvam since 2011. The banners, urging the residents to boycott the polls installed at the entrance reflect the villagers’ frustration, and the mud road laid with uneven stones, their daily struggle.
Giving a clear picture of the plight is 58-year-old C Mariammal of Muthuvakudi who points out they have to walk 6 km through the rough terrain to buy groceries or visit a hospital. “Women in labour have to be carried in ‘doli’ to the hospital,” she says.
The demand for roads connecting Kurangani and Muthuvakudi, and Muthuvakudi and Top Station, as well as links to Agamalai and Oothukadu, has been long-pending. For the villagers, these are not just roads, they are essential lifeline they have been waiting for, year after year.
N Sakthivel, another villager, says hiring jeep, one of the modes of transportation available in the village, costs around Rs 1,500 for a single trip. “Even to cast votes, the residents have to suffer. Those staying at Muthuvakudi have to walk 3 kilometres to exercise their franchise,” he explains.
The lack of facilities, including cell phone network, in the area could take a dangerous turn, as it did during the Kurangani fire in 2018 that led to the death of 22 trekkers. Recalling the incident, C M Das (65), who has lived his entire life in Kottakudi says, “Due to the lack of communication facilities, rescue operations could not be carried out immediately. Even today, the situation remains unchanged.”
Bodinayakanur is fertile land, famed for its hill crops of cardamom, pepper, lemon and coffee, which are the backbone of the local economy. Communities like Mukkulathor, Chettiyar, Pillaimar, Naidu and Scheduled Castes form the majority of the electorate here. Like Theni district, it was, for long, considered an AIADMK stronghold. After the demise of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, DMK won three of the four Assembly constituencies in the 2021 election. Still Bodinayakanur remained with the current opposition party. With OPS shifting his allegiance to the DMK, the ruling party is eyeing a clean sweep of the district this time.
While former AIADMK district secretary Syed Khan, who recently joined the DMK, evinces confidence of OPS’ victory, describing him as easily approachable, residents have mixed feelings.
While A Valli from Vinobaji Colony says she will vote for the DMK because of former DMK MLA S Lakshmanan, who addresses their needs without considering their political affiliations, others say OPS is rarely seen at his office here — until elections.
“As he has taken little effort to create jobs, many small farmers are struggling and migrating in search of work,” rues A Ramakrishnan from Melachokkanathapuram. Still others point to the government engineering college, law college, arts and science college, polytechnic college established in the district through his efforts. “But, his shift from AIADMK to DMK will not be accepted by many,” feels N Saraswathi from Bodinayakanur area.
The AIADMK, for its part, has fielded a veteran V T Narayanasamy against OPS. Narayanasamy, who has been with the party for over four decades, contested from the Theni Lok Sabha constituency in 2024 and polled 1,55,587 votes, securing the third place.
Narayanasamy contends that OPS’ victories here were largely due to the party’s ‘Two Leaves’ symbol. Highlighting the need for a check dam across the Kottakudi river and better road connectivity, he charges that despite three terms his opponent had done nothing for people’s welfare. A senior AIADMK member K Papulu Jakiyan (75) from Karatupatti, believes that DMK’s grassroots workers have not fully accepted OPS’ entry, which may affect his performance in the poll. OPS could not be reached for comment.
Apart from the candidates of the two major Dravidian parties, the NTK’s Kalaiyarasu and TVK’s S Prakash are also in the fray.