CHENNAI: The surprise Congress candidate for the Vilavancode constituency in Kanyakumari district is the great granddaughter of Kavimani Desiya Vinayagam Pillai, a wellknown Tamil poet and scholar from the district. Even the local Congressmen see Vijayadharani as a rank outsider and fear that the party has lost an opportunity to bag the constituency, which, after delimitation, has a sizeable population of Congress supporters.
They fear that Leema Rose, the CPM sitting MLA of Tiruvattar delimitation has brought many regions of the erstwhile Tiruvattur into Vilavancode may have a cake walk as she is not only a known face, but also belongs to the dominant Christian Nadar community. However, Vijayadharani, the 41yearold advocate has her own credentials besides having her roots in the district. A Senior Standing Counsel representing the Government of India in the Supreme Court and the election incharge for Kerala and Karnataka Youth Congress, she belongs to Mayiladi in Kanyakumari district. "Though I am in Chennai for quite some time, I belong to Kanyakumari and most of my kith and kin still live there," she told Express.
Asked to comment about her prospects of winning in the Nadar dominated constituency, she said Malayalis, fishermen and Adidravidas account for about 30 per cent of the local population.
She, however, pointed out that caste factors would not play a major role in the elections as people would be voting for the Congress party, cutting across communal lines. "I am wellversed in Tamil, as well as Malayalam and English. Above all, the constituency is a Congress bastion," she stated and was optimistic of winning the seat.
According to her, eight panchayats of the 22 in Vilavancode are with the Congress, while remaining are held by CPM and BJP parties. She claimed that the CPM had won from the constituency 'standing on our foot' and only seven panchayats from the now eliminated Tiruvattur constituency, nurtured by the CPM, have been merged with Vilavancode. When asked about her rapport with grassroot level functionaries at Vilavancode, she pointed out that AICC president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader Mani Shankar Aiyer had come out with flying colours in constituencies to which they do not live in.