MADURAI: Even a glass of jigarthanda won’t cool the heat of the election race from the Madurai parliamentary constituency. One of the key battlegrounds in Tamil Nadu, Madurai has a history of favouring the Congress, which has won the seat eight times since Independence, followed by the CPM which has won here four times. Interestingly, the two Dravidian majors have only won from Madurai once each — the DMK’s MK Alagiri, former union minister, was elected from here in 2009 — the same as CPI, Tamil Maanila Congress and the Janata Party.
This time, the contest in Madurai is between a writer, a professor and a doctor. The DMK’s alliance partner, CPM, has fielded its incumbent MP Su Venkatesan (54) again, while the AIADMK, whose candidate lost to Venkatesan by 1.4 lakh votes in 2019, has given its seat to Dr P Saravanan (54), an ex-DMK MLA, who joined the party one-and-half years ago. They will face off against the BJP’s state general secretary professor Raama Sreenivasan (59).
Venkatesan was first introduced to voters in 2019 as an author and winner of Sahitya Akademi Award. Arguably best-known for his championing of the archaeological digs at the Keezhadi site, Venkatesan has a good rapport with DMK chief MK Stalin and his candidature was backed by the ruling party. This has caused some heartburn among DMK cadre who wanted the seat to be given to one of their own leaders, given the party holds four of six Assembly constituencies here.
Although DMK district secretaries and cadre have slowly started to campaign for Venkatesan, they haven’t been working well with CPM cadre. Still the supporters of Venkatesan, who belongs to the Naidu community, believe that his involvement in key issues, anti-BJP stand, and simplicity will bring victory again.
The AIADMK’s Dr Saravanan is also a popular candidate -- despite his reputation as a party-hopper. The doctor runs a private hospital in Madurai, and has acted in a few movies. He also provides free education and medical services to the poor. Saravanan started his political career with MDMK as a district secretary in 2016 but quit and joined the DMK. He contested in the 2019 Assembly bypoll to Tirupparankundram and won.
Realising he wouldn’t get a ticket in the 2021 Assembly polls, he joined the BJP and got a ticket to contest the polls on the same day. He lost but remained with the BJP till the next year when he quit after a BJP cadre threw slippers at the car of minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. He took a break from politics before joining the AIADMK. Despite his history, he has been accepted by all parties as he is a member of Mukkulathor community, which makes up a significant population in the constituency, and has always been ready to spend money for the party he belonged to.
This, however, hasn’t won over a section of AIADMK cadre, who were hoping the seat would again be given to Raj Satyen, who contested in 2019, son of party district secretary and former mayor Rajan Chellappa. It has been left to former minister Sellur K Raju, an AIADMK district secretary who belongs to the same community as Rajan Chellappa and Saravanan, to actively seek support for Saravanan at party meetings although he is yet to step out and mobilise votes. Party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has been maintaining a careful peace among the district leaders given the caste dynamics at play.
The BJP’s Raama Sreenivasan, belongs to the Reddy community, and started off as an RSS member before moving to the BJP. A familiar face on TV news channels, the Madurai native was an adjunct professor at the School of Management of SASTRA University and now serves as an independent director of NABARD. His supporters had done groundwork in the Virudhunagar and Tiruchy constituencies from where he was expected to be fielded. He lacks a strong base in Madurai, but could be a serious contender.
The difference in votes between the winning CPM candidate and runner-up AIADMK candidate was around 1.40 lakh in 2019. The MNM candidate had amassed 85,000 votes but the party has since lost its hold in Madurai. The independent candidate fielded by the AMMK also garnered a respectable 85,000 votes. The AMMK is now in alliance with the BJP and could give Sreenivasan’s candidacy a boost.
What the voters think?
Madurai resident, V Kalamegam (44), is of the opinion that Venkatesan’s performance as MP was decent as he lent ear to public grievances and visited the constituency whenever necessary. Another resident, J Aravind (40) said he was unhappy with both the DMK-led state government and the BJP-led Union government. “They are seen as great leaders due to the lack of strong opposition,” he said. He added that though the locality has many educational institutions, no scheme or programme has been initiated to increase students’ skills.
Others believe that the constituency is crying for better infrastructure. While SVSS Velshankar, the president of Tamil Nadu Food Grains Merchants Association, flagged traffic congestion as a key issue, activist A Veronica Mary said there is serious need for a regional cancer centre, NIPER and one more government medical college in the district. “Construction of Madurai AIIMS must be expedited,” she added.
Transport was a key issue on the mind of the president of Maduraiyar Movement, G Thirumurugan, who said metro rail work should be undertaken soon.
He also called for efforts to improve the 36 key tourist sites across Madurai.
Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) president RM Lakshminarayanan said the electricity tariff hike and GST are the main concerns for the sector. “MSMEs in the district have been struggling a lot especially after the pandemic,” he pointed out.
For president of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, N Jegatheesan, no new project or promise is needed. “We just want to see projects already announced and past poll promises becoming a reality,” he said, pointing out that Madurai-Thoothukudi industrial corridor was announced a decade ago but remains on paper.