Farm distress a key issue in Karur as Jothimani takes on Thambidurai
Karur, the arid district in west Tamil Nadu, literally boils under the sun. The mercury mercilessly soars every day and the political scene is all heated up too. The parliamentary constituency is witnessing a two-cornered fight – between young Turk Jothimani of the Congress and the seasoned Thambidurai of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
This time around, the odds seem stacked against the veteran, a four-time MP who won in 1989, 1998, 2009, and 2014. The electorate is more inclined to pick Jothimani, whose good work as councillor had earned praise. The library she set up in Karur is still functional and the people fondly remember her ground work to reach potable water to many parts of the constituency. Her meek appearances betray the fiery will within, as she goes about seeking votes and earnestly urging people around to cast their votes for the Congress. As she addresses small gatherings, with folded hands, the stress is always on change and employment. The AIADMK, which is in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), apparently missed to see the advantage Jothimani has as the daughter-of-the-soil. Her father was a farmer. Thambidurai hails from Krishnagiri. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is in the Congress-led alliance, has extended its support to Jothimani through Senthil Balaji who was earlier with the AIADMK. The party expects to cash in on the wide public support enjoyed by Senthil Balaji in spite of his repeated party switching.
HistoryÂ
Karur, historically Karuvur, was once the capital of the Chera dynasty. Karur was part of the Coimbatore district before being brought under the Trichy district. When Trichy was trifurcated, it became a separate district in 1995. It has six assembly constituencies. It has the highest number of candidates, 42, in the state, contesting this election. Out of the 42, only four are women. Both the Congress and the AIADMK won the constituency six times. The Congress won from here between 1957-67 and 1971-84. The AIADMK had its MPs between 1989-91, 1998-99, and 2009-14.
Anti-incumbency
Thambidurai is up against an anti-incumbency wave too. Many said the MP had not visited the constituency even once after winning the mandate. Jothimani failed to make a mark in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when she lost to Senthil Balaji, then with the AIADMK. However, there is some hope in statistics for the AIADMKÂ – alien candidates have won more times than sons of the soil. In 1962, R Ramanathan Chettiar of the Congress, who hailed from the then Madras region, won. In 1980, Durai Sebastian of the Congress, who hailed from Manapparai, was elected MP. In 1984, another Congressman AR Murugaiah, also from Manapparai, became MP. In 2004, DMK man KC Palanisamy from Erode contested and won.
Water crisis
As a convention, the natives of Karur do not sell their land to non-natives. Karur is washed by the Cauvery and its tributaries like Amaravathi and Noyyal. The latter rivers are almost coursing dry with scant rain. Thousands of farmers depend on these rivers for irrigation. Drinking water shortage too is rife in villages along the banks of these rivers. Palaviduthi is one such a village. This hamlet was adopted by Thambidurai in 2014 under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Five years on, the villagers still do not get bare minimum water. But Thambidurai puts all blame on the Centre. He says there is a dearth of funds. He promises the implementation of the Cauvery Combined Drinking Water Scheme to alleviate the district’s drinking water woes. During his campaign in Aravakurichi, he said the AIADMK had two years in power in the state and the proposed water scheme would be completed in the stipulated period. However, the scheme is likely to take more time as Aravakurichi does not have an MLA and it is one of the assembly constituencies which waits for a bypoll.
Hard will
The seat did not land on Jothimani too easily. She had a clash within the party in 2016 because the seat was given to the DMK, the ally of the Congress in that year’s assembly election. But Jothimani had started working from Aravakurichi in 2015 with the tagline ‘Aravakurichi 2016,’ well before the announcement of elections. Since, it was a DMK bastion, the party fielded KC Palanisamy again after he emerged victorious in the 2011 assembly elections.
Other issuesÂ
The farmers of Karur had approached Thambidurai with a proposal to keep the rivers clean – install a combined treatment plant for a cluster of dyeing units. They said instead of creating new river-sharing schemes like sharing Amaravathi river between Karur and Tiruppur or creating new river-linking schemes like linking tributaries of the Cauvery, replenishment of tanks like Thathampalayam and Panchampatti from Amaravathi river. If the tanks are filled once, it will benefit the people for up to five years, they say.
The district’s other important farm produce is drumstick. Aravakurichi is the main region from where more than 60 per cent of drum stick in the state is sourced. Drumstick growers, for a long time, have been demanding food processing units to value add to their farm produce.
On the whole, Thambidurai, in the past four terms, seems to be just repeating the rhetoric and people look to be fatigued. In this backdrop, the fresh air of thought that Jothimani brings in could walk her to victory.
