Stakes high for MDMK as party scion tests political fortunes in Tiruchi
An intense battle is brewing in the constituency; In a fourcornered contest, Durai Vaiko is pitted against candidates of AIADMK, AMMK and NTK
he MDMK’s quest to reclaim the Tiruchi Lok Sabha seat after two decades by fielding Durai Vaiko, 51 — son of the party’s general secretary Vaiko, — and the party’s insistence on contesting on its own symbol, albeit a new one, has put the spotlight on the constituency this general election.
An intense political battle is brewing here as Mr. Durai Vaiko is pitted in a fourcornered contest against P. Karuppaiah, a political novice from the AIADMK; P. Senthilnathan, till recently an AMMK councillor; and T. Rajesh, of the NTK. The possibility of a significant split in votes looms large as former Tiruchi Mayor Sarubala R. Tondaiman, of the AMMK, had polled over one lakh votes in the 2019 general election and the NTK’s candidate secured over 65,000 votes. With the MDMK being allotted this seat, as part of the DMKled alliance, at the expense of the incumbent Congress MP Su. Thiruna
Tvukkarasar, there is a lot of pressure on Mr. Durai Vaiko. The loss of the party’s ‘top’ symbol and its refusal to contest on the DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol had raised the prospect of possible strain in relations between the cadre of the two parties on the field. Mr. Durai Vaiko, however, has been dismissive of such apprehensions and does not see a problem in popularising the new ‘matchbox’ symbol among voters in the age of social media.
He will also have to contend with the ‘outsider tag’, though the electorate here has repeatedly returned candidates hailing from other parts of the State. Mr. Senthilnathan has been playing up the ‘outsider card’ and touting his familiarities with issues of the constituency as one of his strong points. Mr. Karuppaiah, 40, a contractor from Gandharvakottai in the neighbouring Pudukotai district, is no stranger here either. The constituency straddles urban pockets and an agriculture belt from the Cauvery delta on the one side to the largely dry and rainfed tracts of Pudukottai district on the other. It has returned candidates of Congress and the Left parties between 1957 and 1996, barring 1980 when N. Selvaraj of the DMK won.
Late Rangarajan Kumaramangalam breathed life into the BJP here by winning two successive elections in 1998 and 1999 [in alliance with the AIADMK and the DMK respectively], putting an end to Congress strongman L. Adaikalaraj’s winning streak in four elections from 1984. The AIADMK won the 2001 byelection, only to lose the seat to the MDMK in 2004. The AIADMK reclaimed the seat in 2009 and retained it in 2014, before the Congress took over in 2019.
Despite being an education hub and a strategic location, Tiruchi is seen to have fallen behind other tierII cities in infrastructure development. “...We need a capable MP who can address some of the projects and proposals that have been hanging fire for long,” said H. Ghouse Baig, a consumer activist.
Voters have a lot of expectations on the infrastructure front – the runway expansion of the Tiruchi International Airport; the unfinished semiring road for the city; public healthcare facilities; and the muchanticipated metro rail. Tiruchi’s claim of being a fabrication hub of the country has also come under threat in the recent years. At its peak, the industry had over 450 small and medium units, most of them doing job works for the public sector power equipment major, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). Just about 8090 units are active now. The MSMEs are not entirely happy. “We still face a variety of issues due to the tendering procedure adopted by the BHEL, such as elimination of the highest bidder and reverse bidding; upfront GST payment for conversion orders; and the steep hike in the fixed power charges,” said D. Mohan, president, BHEL Small and Medium Industries Association.