Much water has flown down the Kodaganar since the first election in Athoor in 1967. This election, Athoor, with its dense coconut groves and numerous temples, is witnessing a fierce battle between former Revenue Minister I. Periasamy of the DMK and Power Minister Natham R. Viswanathan of the AIADMK.
Mr. Periasamy, a four-time victor who won the last election by 53,932 votes, has his pride at stake while Mr. Viswanathan is fighting to ensure his political survival.
Though the two have different campaign styles, the campaign rhetoric has been getting too personal at times as both have put so much on the line.
While Mr. Periasamy uses a more personalised approach with, Mr. Viswanathan — who uses two identical vehicles for the campaign, with one carrying an MGR-lookalike to engage the crowd — has based his campaign around the government’s achievements and is appealing to people to vote for the AIADMK if they want too see the “golden era” continue.
Without going into the specifics, the Minister says that Ms. Jayalalithaa has fulfilled all her election promises and the State has emerged as a model for the whole country. “Did Mr. Periasamy give you two acres of land as promised by the DMK,” he asks.
Though a political heavyweight, the ruling party’s decision to field Mr. Viswanathan from Athoor took everyone here by surprise. Well-known for ending the Congress’s reign in Natham in a by-election in 1999, the Minister is fighting to overcome the ‘outsider’ tag.
As a result, wherever he goes, he is introduced the AIADMK’s campaign introduce him as “son-of-soil Viswanathan,” carefully avoiding mentioning ‘Natham’. In fact, the Minister had to face the wrath of the public at the start of his campaign for erratic water supply in the region.
The DMK, on the other hand, has all the ingredients of an election festival, with music, dance, fireworks and the whole works. Mr. Periasamy, whose wife is from Athoor, is also introduced during rallies as the “son of the soil.”
The former Minister, exuding confidence, says: “I have fulfilled all past promises. I shall get the medical college, for which a GO was issued by the DMK government, for Athoor during this term. The proposal was shelved by the AIADMK. My constituency was victimised in the last five years for electing me.”
Temple renovation
The influence wielded by temples in this constituency is a major factor in elections. Instead of the traditional renovation every 12 years, they undergo a complete overhaul just before every Assembly poll. In fact, one can easily mistake the Vandikaliamman-Muthalamman Temple located in the middle of Athoor in Dindigul district for a structure completed only yesterday.
The sway the temples hold can be gauged from the fact that candidates provide funds for renovation of local temples “even before launching their campaign,” says P. Nallusamy, a local.
The constituency, however, is not only dotted with temples. In recent times, a number of resorts have sprung up around the Kamarajar Sagar, which is the Dindigul district’s main source of drinking water.
Also located in the constituency is Gandhigram Rural Institute founded by T.S. Soundram and G. Ramachandran, which is a pioneer in implementing Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘constructive programme’.
