VILLUPURAM: Villupuram parliamentary constituency will see VCK general secretary D Ravikumar take on PMK’s Vadivel Ravanan and it looks like anti-incumbency will be the deciding factor.
While DMK and AIADMK have had a comparable vote share in this region over the years, factors such as lack of enthusiasm among AIADMK cadre to support the PMK candidate, disgruntlement in AIADMK cadre, Vadivel Ravanan’s outsider image and TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK presence in certain areas will stack the odds against AIADMK-PMK alliance.
“Vadivel Ravanan is a stooge of PMK high command. Even if he has to set up a water tank he will have to get permission from Aiyya (PMK founder S Ramadoss). What will we get by supporting him?,” argued a senior AIADMK leader from Vanur, claiming that his party functionaries are extending support only out of compulsion.
This is the case in neighbouring Assembly constituency Tindivanam too. “The PMK is not spending money on Ravanan’s campaign. If they want to win the seat, they have to take an initiative instead of blindly expecting to gain the support of AIADMK voters,” said N Venkatesan, an AIADMK leader from Mailam village, near Tindivanam, claiming wounds of PMK’s attack on AIADMK and Amma are yet to heal.
Hardcore PMK fanatics claimed that the fact Vadivel Ravanan, a former general secretary of PMK, is from Nagapattinam and not a native of Viluppuram will hurt his chances. “The PMK should have picked a local candidate and he would have better chances. Ravikumar has already contested in Vanur and people are familiar with him” said M Ramalingam, a PMK supporter who lost a foot while taking part in a PMK protest in 1989.
AIADMK leaders from Tindivanam and Vanur also expressed their reservations about the functioning of top leaders in the area. “Leaders should understand that keeping only 10 functionaries around him happy will result in losing the support of the other 90 office-bearers and will bring about their downfall,” said Venkatesan, explaining this has contributed to functionaries extending support to AMMK candidate N Ganapathy, who is a two-time MLA and has significant influence in Vanur and Vikravandi areas.
Interestingly, in the reserved Assembly constituencies of Vanur and Tindivanam, it is not Ravikumar’s Dalit political leaning and penmanship that is exciting voters, but the fact he will be contesting on DMK’s symbol. “He is contesting on Kalaignar’s symbol which means he has a chance of winning and we will support him,” said V Meenambal, an agricultural labourer.
The DMK and VCK also seem to be playing to this welcome notion of Ravikumar breaking from the confines of contesting from an ‘SC party’ and it is evident in their campaigns in the region and wall paintings. Ravikumar’s name is painted in the DMK’s black and red instead of the VCK’s characteristic blue and constituents say the campaigns are also seeing DMK flags overshadowing those of VCK.
NTK and MNM have almost no presence in these regions, especially in interior villages.
'No longer a Vanniyar belt'
The Divya-Ilavarsan tragic love story in 2012 at Dharmapuri was a key factor in PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss’ victory. The effects of the polarisation of the Vanniyar vote was felt as far as Villupuram. There is a considerable Vanniyar population in Villupuram which is estimated to account for 25-30 per cent of the total population. However, the absence of any controversial incidents in the region has prevented a ‘vote your caste’ mentality. “This can no longer be called a Vanniyar belt because people have shifted allegiance to DMK and AIADMK,” said Ramalingam, claiming, this would be a problem for PMK in the coming elections.
Unemployment, lack of irrigation are major issues
Villupuram is a predominantly an agricultural region with over three lakh farmer families out of which 75 per cent are marginal farmers. Because the big farmers own 42 per cent of agricultural land, unemployment among landless farmers is a serious issue.
There are six major sugar factories in Villupuram, but there are a few other industries. Because of the high demand for jobs, workers are forced to make do with payments as less as `100 a day.
With even qualified youth forced to work in factories for daily wages, there is a cry for an educational loan waiver in the district. This will favour the DMK-VCK combine which has been assuring people of a loan waiver, by recalling the agricultural loan waiver the former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi rolled out in 2006.
The region depends on open wells and borewells for irrigation, but most wells have gone dry in the area and improvement of alternative irrigation measures are other demands from farmers in the region.
(With input from Krithika Srinivasan)