SANKARANKOVIL: An AIADMK fort in the last seven Assembly elections, Sankarankovil (SC) reserved constituency is going to polls on April 6. While incumbent MLA, Minister Rajalakshmi, will harp on AIADMK government’s welfare measures, there is also a perceived anger among Thevar community members here against the State government’s 10.5 per cent reservation for Vanniyars. Will the DMK turn the tide in its favour?
The AIADMK has fielded Minister Rajalakshmi, the sitting MLA, for the upcoming elections. She won the 2016 polls with a margin of 14,489 votes. She secured 78,751 votes against DMK candidate Anbumani who polled 64,262 votes. This time, E Raja, an advocate, is in the fray on behalf of the DMK. The opposition party had won the seat in 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1989 Assembly elections. Late AIADMK Minister C Karuppasamy alone was elected as MLA from here four times in a row. After his demise, Muthuselvi retained the seat for the party with a landslide win in the by-poll conducted in 2012. Muthuselvi polled 94,977 votes against 26,220 votes of DMK candidate Jawahar Suryakumar.
Demands of the voters
Speaking to Express, Karuthapandi, a farmer from Sankarankovil, said, “Thousands of people, particularly villagers, of this constituency are involved in agriculture and its allied activities. However, they depend on seasonal rainfall for irrigation of their crops like maize and urad. We have been demanding the implementation of Keeriyaru dam project for several decades now. It will bring surplus water from Western Ghats to our constituency for irrigation purposes.
The National Water Development Authority agreed to allocate funds for the project during the DMK
tenure between 1996 and 2001. However, both the Dravidian majors did not take any step to implement the project after that. The next government should take steps to bring Keeriyaru water to Sankarankovil.”
The constituency has more than 15,000 flower farmers. They want a scent factory to be set up here so that they can sell their produce to the factory whenever they don’t get a fair price. About 15,000 powerloom weavers reside in and around Sankarankovil. They recently went on an indefinite strike. They have demanded that the State and the Central governments fix a minimum support price for the yarn. Once prone to communal clashes, the Sankarankovil constituency has witnessed a steep decline in the count of such clashes in the past decade. Political observers say that the creation of more jobs for youth will eradicate caste-based issues in the constituency.
Minister hopeful of victory
During her campaign in Kurivikulam, Minister Rajalakshmi promised that she will continue to implement the welfare schemes of the AIADMK government and fulfil the demands of voters if she is elected. Addressing party cadre in Sankarankovil, she expressed hope of securing a win this time as well. “The AIADMK will win not only Sankarankovil, but also all the 234 constituencies. The schemes like Kudimaramathu which were brought by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will help the AIADMK come to power,” he said.
When contacted by Express, the DMK candidate Raja said that he will bring Thamirabarani river water to the constituency by digging a new canal from Tirunelveli district. “As of now, bringing Thamirabarani river water here (Thamirabarani Kalvai Thittam) looks feasible for the implementation. Once the DMK comes to power, I will work on this project and resolve the water shortage issue for both drinking and irrigation purposes in Sankarankovil constituency. I will also bring a textile park for the welfare of weavers and take steps for the reduction of GST imposed on different products of weavers,” he added.
Vanniyar quota to backfire?
The DMK candidate also said that the Sankarankovil constituency will not be AIADMK’s stronghold anymore, adding that the AIADMK candidate Rajalakshmi is facing voters’ anger wherever she campaigns. “The villagers of Kurivikulam union showed black flags to Rajalakshmi and argued with her that she has not done anything for them. Apart from this, the people of Thevar community are angry on the ruling party because of the internal quota given to Vanniyars.
They feel that their quota within MBC reservation has been shrunken and limited to 7.5 per cent. Hence, the Thevars are about to vote against the AIADMK candidate this time paving a way for our return after 30 years,” said Raja.
According to final publication of electoral rolls, Sankarankovil constituency has 2,52,939 voters including 1,22,739 men, 1,30,195 women and five members of third gender. People from Scheduled Castes, Thevar, Nadar, Yadava and Chengunthar communities reside in sizable numbers in the constituency.