When the suicide of S. Muthukumarasamy, a senior official from the Department of Agricultural Engineering, shocked the whole State and led to the arrest of Minister for Agriculture ‘Agri’ Krishnamoorthy, the ruling party would have believed that the arrest would become an effective damage control measure and save it from further criticism. However, this issue continues to haunt the AIADMK in Tirunelveli Assembly constituency as the rivals are highlighting the suicide in electioneering to garner votes of Pillai community to which the late officer belonged.
As this constituency houses more number of Pillai voters than those belonging to Dalit, Thevar and Yadava communities, the DMK has fielded A.L.S. Lakshmanan from Pillai community. He is the son of A.L. Subramanian, a three-time MLA and former Mayor, known as a ‘decent politician’ with cordial relationship with leaders of all political parties. The ruling party has fielded its warhorse, former Minister and sitting MLA Nainar Nagenthran from the Thevar community. He defeated Mr. Lakshmanan in 2011 by a whopping margin of over 38,000 votes.
Others in the race
People’s Welfare Front’s Madasamy and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Maharajan are also in the race though the real competition is between Mr. Nagenthran and Mr. Lakshmanan.
While Mr. Lakshmanan tries to highlight the AIADMK’s “corrupt administration” that led to the suicide of Muthukumarasamy and its failure to fulfil promises, Mr. Nagenthran makes all-out efforts to repeat his thumping victory through his rapport with voters and leaders of various communities.
Dalit votes
Mr. Nagenthran believes that his efforts in desilting channels leading to Maanur Big Tank and Pallamadaikulam (both overflowed during the northeast monsoon) would fetch votes of Dalits. However, Dalit voters living in villages between Gangaikondan and Manimurtheeswaram seem to back the DMK candidate.
At the same time, farmers expect desilting and concrete lining of Tirunelveli and Kodagan channels also to avoid wastage and take the water to tail-end regions.
The defunct South India Cooperative Spinning Mill has once again become a poll issue as it has left families of over 1,000 employees in the lurch. Owing to hefty dues for cotton and machinery spares and non-availability of funds required for modernisation, the spinning mill was closed down suddenly. Though the successive DMK and AIADMK governments promised to reopen the mill, no effort was taken in this direction and the machinery have become scrap.
Garbage dump woes
Delay in executing a good solid waste management programme in the Corporation’s garbage dump at Ramaiyanpatti is likely to trigger fire accident this summer too. Whenever fire breaks out in this yard, life becomes miserable for people living within a seven-km radius with thick smoke engulfing the entire region.
Water flowing from the underground drainage treatment ponds near the garbage yard is another poll issue as the sewage mixes up with Kodagan channel water even as several lakhs of litres of water from the Tamirabharani is being sold cheaply to transnational beverage giants having their manufacturing units at Gangaikondan Sipcot Industrial Growth Centre.
Leaders of the DMK, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam women’s wing leader Premalatha Vijayakant and other star campaigners highlighted the suicide of Muthukumarasamy to highlight ruling AIADMK government’s “corrupt practices.” And it seems to have some effect among the voters.
