In Ulundurpet, Captain faces four-cornered contest; caste factor could play decisive role

CHENNAI: In true Captain style, Vijayakant will have to fight off attacks from more than one side in the battle for Ulundurpet next week. This agrarian seat in Villupuram district in north TN, dominated by vanniyars and dalits, isn't going to be the cakewalk the DMDK chief expected it to be. PMK, AIADMK and DMK also have a chance here as the caste equations could play out any way.
Moments after Vijayakant's candidature was announced, PMK fielded its advocate wing secretary and spokesman K Balu, while DMK chose G R Vasanthavel, a vanniyar and a local strongman, after its ally, MMK backed out of the seat. AIADMK has re-nominated its sitting MLA R Kumaraguru, who is from the Udaiyar community. He won the seat comfortably in the company of DMDK in 2011, pushing the DMK-PMK-VCK combine to second slot.
This time though, he's without the support of Vijayakant's men. Until 2009, Ulundurpet was a reserved constituency, but after delimitation, parts of it were merged with Kallakurichi and Virudhachalam and Tirunavalur was added, which means traditional vote bases have been redistributed.
DMDK youth wing secretary L K Sudhish feels Vijayakant's strong fan base in the region will sway the votes. DMDK contested alone and secured 30,400 votes in the 2006 poll, ten months after floating the party. "Fans are a strong support group for us. We are sure to get more than a lakh votes, given the consolidation of VCK, MDMK and Left parties," Sudhish said.
The backward pocket has been deprived of good road infrastructure, arts and science colleges, schools and hospitals. Sudhish says DMDK will hold mega job camps to provide employment to at least 10,000 people in the constituency. The local hospital, serving two highways that see a number of accidents, also needs improvement. Patients are referred to JIPMER in Puducherry or Villupuram government medical college and hospital.
Most of the 53 panchayats and 183 villages in the three panchayat unions - Ulundurpet, Thirunavalur and Thiruvennainallur - face a drinking water crisis. There is a strong resentment from cane farmers over lack of support from the government.
PMK's Balu vows to bring a mobile hospital and a polytechnic college. "It is an abandoned area where you can see an engineering graduate working as a coolie in a sugarcane farm," he said.