The serene Panrimalai hills of the Kodaikanal range form the backdrop to the Athoor taluk office, but no one's got a second to spare for the scenery today. Everyone is waiting to receive a high-profile candidate at noon -
power minister
and AIADMK candidate Natham R Viswanathan. He's never left his pocket borough of Natham before, and the first time that he's contesting from unfriendly territory, he's up against DMK's I Periasamy, who has won Athoor four times, and has been its MLA for the past decade.
A swarm of supporters, some from neighbouring Natham, alight from small vans and run to take refuge under the trees. Viswanathan arrives to file his nomination, sweating profusely . As he sits down to sign the papers, the staff look at the ineffectual split air-conditioner that's spewing warm air because the voltage -as always -is too low. None of them dare mention it to the electricity minister, who is facing allegations of having received `525 crore in kickbacks for solar power purchase pacts.
The buzz is that Viswanathan has fallen from Jayalalithaa's grace and has been denied the ticket to Natham, which he has represented for three terms since 2001. But you wouldn't believe it to hear him: “Natham is in Singapore, you can see for yourself. I guarantee a similar transformation here,“ he thunders to a sceptical group near Vandi Kaliamman Koil, after a party member has introduced him as a “pet child of Amma“.
The locals talk about how accessible and simple DMK's `IP' is. He's known for his philanthropy -paying students' fees, helping them get admission into colleges and schools, helping families cope with losses -and residents have named a colony after him in Chinnalapatti, off the Madurai-Dindigul highway. “He remains our IP , and one of our family members. In good times or bad, he is with us and we will ensure his victory with a huge margin,“ said Zahir Hussain of Sithayankottai.
Periasamy has won here since he first contested in 1989, except for 1991, when an AIADMK-Congress combine swept the state after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and 2001when he lost by 3,600 votes.He is one of the 23 DMK MLAs who survived “AIADMK wave“ of 2011. He's also credited with bringing an Anna Institute of Technology campus to Madurai-Dindigul, a 30-bed government hospital, a host of water schemes and a new subregistrar office. AIADMK is talking about unemployment and lack of industries in the area in the hope of turning the tide in their favour. N Saravanakumar, who topped the Athoor government higher secondary school last year, works as a daily wage labourer, pointing to the severe shortage of job opportunities. “Amma's schemes will fetch votes and my victory margin will be 30,000, though our aim is 50,000,“ Viswanathan says.
But Periasamy has the insider's edge. As he goes into the villages, he's able to address each household member by name. “I will bring a college and industries this time, that is my promise,“ the former minister said, neatly passing the blame for its delay on the AIADMK government. An order for a college was passed and a special officer appointed, but nothing more happened, he said. Since two equally matched `VIP' candidates are in the race -the PWF has fielded DMDK's Dindigul East advocate wing secretary M Packia Selvaraj who isn't expected to make much of a dent--the Election Commission also has its eye on the constituency to make sure cash isn't scattered around. The EC has posted two expenditure observers from the Income Tax and other Central agencies here; usually only one observer is allotted to two seats.
Start a Conversation
Post comment