Pennagaram pins hope on PMK candidate Anbumani Ramadoss

Pennagaram

constituency in Dharmapuri shot to fame after

PMK

's chief ministerial candidate Dr Anbumani Ramadoss chose to contest from there. To keep the competition alive, all major parties like AIADMK and DMK have fielded heavyweight candidates.

Pennagaram is known for abject poverty and lack of employment and lack of educational opportunities. Though the constituency has more than 2.26 lakh people, about 50% of them migrated to other districts and states in search of employment. About 10% have shifted to neighbouring towns for higher education. This constituency had seen 14 general elections and one bypoll since its formation in 1971. Of them, DMK has won 4 times while PMK, AIADMK and Congress won twice each and Gandhi Kamarajar National Congress (GKNC) and Janata Party won one time each.

Ramadoss won the 2014 Parliamentary election with a margin of 77,146 votes against his rival AIADMK candidate P S Mohan. Of the 4.68 lakh votes that Anbumani got, more than 90,000 were from Pennagaram constituency alone and he got over 34,000 more votes than the AIADMK candidate. "Keeping this in mind, Anbumani is contesting from Pennagaram constituency as it should be a cakewalk for him," said a PMK functionary . Jayalalithaa, who was rattled by Anbumani's victory in 2014 election, has fielded K P Munusamy , former minister for municipal administration and rural development of Tamil Nadu. Former MLA P N Periannan's son P N P Inbasekaran of DMK is contesting for the second time from this constituency. Though he was defeated in 2011 election by CPI candidate N Nanjappan, this time, Inbasekaran and DMK party supporters are hoping that the anti-incumbency factor may work in his favour.

The sitting MLA of the constituency N Nanjappan is also contesting with support from DMDK-PWF-TMC alliance. He is confident of repeating the 2011 results where he got 80, 028 votes while DMK candidate Inbasekaran secured only 68,485 votes. "With the DMDK-PWF-TMC alliance, our victory is even more secure this time," said K Rajasekaran, a CPI cadre.

Pennagaram, a backward constituency, mainly depends on agriculture. Acute water scarcity has forced many farmers to give up agriculture and migrate to other towns or Karnataka in search of employment. All contestants have promised to take steps to reduce water crisis and increase employment. Anbumani assured that he would open a government arts college, a military research centre, processing units for tomato and tamarind and SIDCO for employments.