Rivals fail to put up formidable challenge for Periyasamy

Dindigul: He has won the last four assembly elections from Athoor, and indications are, he may repeat the feat this time too. DMK heavyweight and rural development minister I Periyasamy, who notched up the highest victory margin of 1.35 lakh in the 2021 Tamil Nadu election, is facing off against AIADMK's A Viswanathan this time.While past records show that only AIADMK has put up a decent show against Periasamy, DMK believes he will win by a bigger margin this time, thanks to the infrastructural works he has undertaken in the constituency. "Roads, drinking water supply, and the overall infrastructure of Athoor were overhauled in the past five years. The minister also brought two govt arts colleges, one in Reddiarchatram and another cooperative arts and science college in Athoor," says DMK functionary S Nagakannan. While Periyasamy is banking on his long-time association with the constituency, many in the rival AIADMK camp doubt how formidable their choice A Viswanathan is. Periyasamy has contested eight times from Athoor since 1989. He lost twice and won six times, four of them on the trot from 2006. NTK's A Simon Justin and TVK's N Kalaiselvi are also in the fray this time. While the NTK candidate is an agriculturalist, the TVK candidate is a homemaker."Our campaign is being well received by the public. People will cast their votes based on the belief that the minister will always take steps to fulfil their demands. Caste arithmetic won't work in this constituency," says Nagakannan. Another DMK functionary, Keerthana Muthukumar, feels people will continue to support the minister as he visits his constituency frequently. "Voters have no clue about the candidates of other parties," she adds.Expressing strong dissatisfaction over the selection of candidates, an AIADMK functionary said that in the 2021 election, it was PMK's Thilagabama who took on Periyasamy and she was no match for him. "In 2011 election, DMDK, which was in AIADMK alliance, contested and lost," he said."AIADMK will receive its default votes, but securing votes from the general public will be a challenge because the candidate is not known. Regardless of whether the candidate wins or loses, we need a strong candidate and who should be the face of this constituency," says he. "This constituency should not be allotted to an alliance partner if the party wants to wrest this seat," said the functionary.However, another AIADMK functionary said A Viswanathan will give a tough fight as he hails from vellalar community, which accounts for 60% of the constituency's votes. He hopes he will net Muslim votes of Sithayankottai, as he hails from nearby Sedapatti and is well-known among the community.