THANJAVUR: In the Orathanadu Assembly constituency, the AIADMK is likely to take on someone who was once their own before he recently changed sides. The turncoat – sitting MLA R Vaithilingam with some good work to his credit – could be the DMK candidate from this segment in the upcoming polls.
The Dr M S Swaminathan Agricultural College and Research Institute situated at Eachangkottai on the Thanjavur to Orathanadu road, established in 2014, stands testament to the work done by Vaithilingam, the four-time MLA and two-time minister in the AIADMK government under late party supremo J Jayalalithaa.
Once a part of “Ivar Ani”, the team of five members acting as Jayalalithaa’s lieutenants, Vaithilingam became the deputy coordinator of the AIADMK after her demise. He recently joined the DMK and is likely to be fielded by the Dravidian major in the rural constituency comprising Kallars as the majority community followed by Dalits and Mutharayras. Vaithilingam’s probable entry as a DMK candidate evokes a positive response from even those who don’t have any party affiliation.
V Ramalingam (name changed), a retired engineer of a public sector enterprise from Orathanadu, says, “Besides the agricultural college, Vaithilingam was instrumental in setting up a veterinary college in Orathanadu, an ITI at Tiruvonam – both falling under the constituency – and a Government engineering college at Sengipatti.” He had also arranged the underground drainage system of Orathanadu town panchayat, Ramalingam added.
Echoing almost the same opinion, T Tamilselvan, a farmer from Vallundampattu, says, “Vaithilingam is well-known in the constituency and also has his supporters who switched to the DMK along with him.”
The AIADMK is likely to field M Sekar, the central district secretary of the party, who contested in 2021 as an AMMK candidate. The incumbent Orathanadu town panchayat chairperson, Sekar is seen as a down-to-earth politician in the town panchayat area. Though now a district secretary of the AIADMK, his political clout is not comparable to that of Vaithilingam in areas other than Orathanadu town panchayat.
However, Vaithilingam has his work cut out to pacify the DMK functionaries who were hopeful of getting the Orathanadu ticket.
S Senthil, a shopkeeper, says, “The hopefuls in the party will be demurring about a candidate, who was till recently in the opposition camp, being parachuted in as the DMK candidate.”
However, a DMK insider says Vaithilingam has already started building bridges with the existing party office-bearers. He recently invited party veteran and ex-MLA M Ramachandran, who contested as DMK candidate in 2021 elections, for opening of a public facility established under his MLA Constituency Development Scheme (MLACDS) funds.
In this rural constituency, farmers are expecting more infrastructure facilities. A mega direct (paddy) procurement centre which can handle 15 tonnes per hour was inaugurated at Panchanathikottai village in the constituency in 2025. “We need more godowns to store the paddy procured in Orathanadu,” says R Sukumaran, a farmer from Kakkarai.
A farmer, Tamil Selvan, said though one part of the constituency gets irrigation water through the Grand Anaicut Canal (GAC), the areas on the western part of the constituency are mostly rainfed. “A proposal mooted three decades ago for a new channel branching out of GAC to supply water to the rainfed areas is yet to see the light of day,” he said, adding that till such a project fructifies, there is a need to sanction more agricultural power connections to use groundwater.
In 2024 LS elections the DMK secured 80,095 votes in Orathanadu Assembly segment, ahead of the BJP (31,324) and DMDK (26,707), which contested in alliance with the AIADMK.
Even as both the main contenders are likely to be from Kallar community, the dominant one in the constituency, the outcome will depend on whose votes and to what extent the fledgling TVK will eat into during the 2026 elections.