The lack of water harvesting schemes to help agriculture has been a persistent challenge for the voters in the constituency. Photo: File
The battle-lines have been drawn lengthy and exhausting for Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, the place a three-cornered fight between the DMK, AIADMK, and PMK is brewing. The Naam Tamilar Katchi can be in the fray.
The Vanniyar dominated constituency, typically projected as a protected seat for the PMK, will see an all-stakes fight. Party president Anbumani Ramadoss was defeated in 2019, and this time, his spouse and president of Pasumai Thayagam, a non-governmental organisation, Sowmiya Anbumani has been fielded.
A cursory have a look at the constituency, comprising the Assembly segments of Dharmapuri (PMK), Pennagaram (PMK), Palacode (AIADMK), Harur (AIADMK), Paapireddipatti (AIADMK), and Salem’s Mettur (PMK), might appear like a drawback for the DMK. This was the solely different district after Coimbatore that didn’t return a single DMK MLA in 2021.
This truism additionally stands for the shifted alliances since and the modified fortunes of the AIADMK and PMK, whose joint energy had led the sweep then. And equally for the DMK’s standalone vote share – as mirrored in the Assembly votes polled. Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, which opposed the DMK and AIADMK in 2019 and 2021, is now with the former. In 2019, the DMK received by over 70,000 votes, whereas AMMK’s P. Palaniappan (now in the DMK) polled 53,655 votes, and the Makkal Needhi Maiam polled 15,614.
The constituency’s caste composition is predominantly Vanniyar, adopted by Dalits, Kongu Vellalar Gounder, and different intermediate castes similar to Mudaliar, Reddiar, and Naidu, adopted by a appreciable share of minorities. The PMK would sweep a important chunk of the Vanniyar vote financial institution, with the remaining being shared between the DMK and the AIADMK.
Mr. Palaniappan summons caste allegiance from his Kongu Vellalar Gounder group, which constitutes a vital voter base in Paapireddipatti, Palacode, and Harur. His presence in the DMK is anticipated to separate the group’s votes, which had been earlier milked by the AIADMK by drawing on their shared caste allegiance with its chief Edappadi Okay. Palaniswami. DMK’s alliance with the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi would solely assist in this cut up in votes. The Dalit and minority votes are additionally more likely to be tapped by the DMK. The swing vote, wielded by the different intermediate castes, is unlikely to favour the PMK.
The last-minute announcement of Ms. Sowmiya’s candidature elevated Dharmapuri to a ‘star’ constituency. Her entry has energised the cadre-based celebration into motion. At the similar time, as the celebration patriarch’s daughter-in-law and invocation of familial affiliation to the voter as the ‘daughter of their house’ might or might not strike a chord for voters. For the disillusioned amongst the PMK cadre, her final minute candidature might have bolstered an oft-voiced notion of the PMK’s founding household’s virtually feudal patro-client relationship with the constituency.
DMK’s candidate A. Mani, a lawyer, and the celebration’s district joint secretary, had unsuccessfully contested the simultaneous bypoll in 2019 for Paapireddipatti Assembly constituency and polled 84,000 votes. The AIADMK has fielded R. Asokan, son of the celebration’s city secretary ‘Pookadai’ Ravi. A authorities physician who has since resigned to check the electoral waters.
In an intensely caste-polarised constituency, an virtually party-agnostic caste affiliation makes any prediction tenuous.
The DMK, which has in its camp the Congress, Left events, VCK, and others, hopes to learn on the presumption of the large cut up in votes in the reverse camps. The AIADMK must ballot its conventional votes in an altered alliance setting after a very long time to gauge its precise energy. For the PMK, the Vanniyar celebration must go manner past its conventional vote financial institution to clinch the seat.
And but, the PMK being a power to reckon with in the present election in this constituency was evident in the current election speech of Chief Minister M.Okay. Stalin, when he directed his assaults on the “double-speak” and “opportunism” of the PMK’s founder S. Ramadoss, whereas lowering the AIADMK to a mere footnote in an almost-hour-long speech.