VILLUPURAM: The Villupuram district was carved out of Cuddalore district by the AIADMK regime in 1993. Since then, Villupuram town has surpassed Cuddalore in terms of infrastructure, especially because, for much of the last three decades, an MLA from Villupuram has been one of the prominent ministers in the State cabinet during DMK and AIADMK regimes.
C Ve Shanmugam has won here the last two times and has been the State law minister since 2011. He was instrumental in bringing a bunch of government projects, including the latest Dr J Jayalalithaa University. But going by the mood on the ground, it still might not be an easy battle for Shanmugam. He will be locking horns with his former party colleague Dr R Lakshmanan, who moved to DMK just a few months before the elections, and secured the party ticket.
For Shanmugam and Lakshmanan, the poll battle is personal too. Lakshmanan is a former district secretary of AIADMK and former Rajya Sabha member who won in the AIADMK ticket in 2013. But he was reportedly upset over Shanmugam taking over as district secretary and decided to join the DMK. And now, he is Shanmugam’s main challenger.
In the past elections, Shanmugam had benefitted from the towering image of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, but this time around, he will be banking on his own achievements. Sathish Kumar, who belongs to a students’ welfare organisation, told TNIE, “What K Ponmudi (DMK’s former minister) did in over 20 years was done by C Ve Shanmugam in just 10 years. It is just an overall opinion. An IT park would give employment to many youth in the district preventing or reducing migration of people.” Kumar was referring to the recent announcement that a ‘mini IT park’ would be set up at Villupuram.
But not everyone praises Shanmugam. A former government school teacher from Ellis Chatram, on condition of anonymity, said, “Thousands of lorries carry tonnes of sand illegally mined from Thenpennai river at night. But no action is being taken. So electing the same people again can risk turning Villupuram into the Somalia of South India.”K Senguttuvan, a writer from the district, said: “The DMK started an underground drainage project in late 90s which, if completed by now, would have improved hygiene and cleanliness in the town. Instead, the project was put to sleep.”
Beyond issues related to government, caste and community dynamics also play a much bigger role here. But both the DMK and AIADMK candidates hail from the Vanniyar community, which has a strong presence here. The recent 10.5% reservation by the AIADMK government is likely to be one of the key factors swaying opinion here, but there are some who are still sceptical, and say the reservation cannot be sustained.
The town also has a considerable Dalit population. There are two major Dalit residential settlements — GRP street and Vazhudhareddy. Political analysts feel the reservation provided to Vanniyars might lead to consolidation of Dalit votes in favour of DMK. Also, even as the Villupuram municipality was granted Rs 100 crore on its centenary celebrations in 2019, not much was spent on areas populated by Dalits. Meanwhile, a sizeable number of Muslim voters here had protested against Citizenship Amendment Act by the BJP-led Centre.
Shanmugam did his best by setting up the Dr J Jayalalithaa University just before the elections and also declaring a mini IT park. Until 2011, Villupuram was considered a fort of Ponmudi, who won seat four out of five times from 1989. He also served as the transport and the higher education minister in the DMK regimes of 1996-2001 and 2006-2011. Just months ahead of the 2011 poll, Ponmudi got the Villupuram Government Hospital inaugurated. But that did not help him in the polls. Ponmudi has since changed his seat to Tirukkoyilur.