As you enter Andipatti, you see that new boards, both government and private, spell the name as Aundipatty. You wonder if this is like the last election, where Jayalalitha became Jayalalithaa the additional 'a' added for numerological reasons.
Assembly Elections 2006: Complete coverage
Andipatti is a beautiful place for people who like hills and mountains. It is only 50 miles from Thekkady, where elephants roam freely. It is also a VIP constituency since MGR chose to contest from here. Now, it is J Jayalalitha's turn. Most people think the current chief minister will easily win from here, but it isn't going to be a no-contest. There are candidates against her.
Seeman is the DMK candidate here. Ashok Kumar is a DMK man from Madurai, who has come here to work for the elections. Vaigai Sekar was the DMK candidate in the last elections here. He was in the midst of hectic campaigning when we caught up with him. "It is ironical that the Vaigai dam is situated in this constituency, yet farmers in this district do not have water," he says. "The ADMK has been promising to build the Thepampatti dam at every election. The people here know that only a chief minister can build that dam. An MLA cannot, as a lot of money is required. So, they voted for her in the last elections. They won't this time, because they know the dam will not be built. When a farmer is hungry, he needs food, not clothes." It is a dig at Jayalalitha's free sari and dhoti scheme. "For agriculture, he needs water, not a medical college."
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The DMK feels it will win with Karunanidhi's promise of cancelling all co-operative bank loans. People believe this promise as he had cancelled Rs 10,000 from all agricultural loans in 1989. Those who did not have TVs were happy with the promise of colour TVs he had made. According to the DMK, there were 18,000 weavers in this area. They were all happy that the DMK president had promised them free power. Ration rice at Rs 2 a kilo was also a great hit with the poor.
Seeman, their candidate, is a postgraduate. He runs a tutorial college in Chennai. For 30 years, he has been taking failures and helping them pass their SSC and HSC exams. So, his party people feel that here too, he will take what is a 'failure constituency' and pass it.
Karunanidhi: The Sachin of TN politics
Kumar, a voter, feels that Jayalalitha is facing a tough time because, earlier in her tenure, she was too harsh with her political opponents, bureaucrats, Christians and everyone in general. People do not forget easily. Muthu, another citizen, added that MGR had laid the foundation stone for the Thepampatti dam. He would have completed it if he had lived. His friend added, "If MGR were alive, no one would have even bothered to contest against him. Even Jayalalitha would lose if she contested with any other symbol. She has already come once asking for votes, she is going to come again as she is not sure of victory."
Farmers agree that if the Thepampatti dam had been constructed, this would have become a green belt. Now, they have to depend on well water for agriculture. Only 40 per cent of the farmers had wells. Of this, 25 per cent of the wells were dry.
Santhakumar is the BJP candidate here. Manikanthan of the BJP says they will get a minimum of 10,000 votes. Santhakumar is more optimistic and thinks he will be able to mobilize 25,000 votes. He is a farmer and contractor here. He says they began their work from the time elections were announced. They went from door to door, and hope it will have a good effect.
There is no big industry in Andipatti, so people here generally go to Tirupur for work. Most of them will come back to vote.
Vaigai Magalir Iyyakam is an NGO working here for the last 11 years. Earlier, they were working in the areas of health, environment and sanitation. Lately, they have been promoting self-help groups, and have formed 645 of them in the area. They have over 10,000 members. People believe these groups will vote for the ruling party as they have managed to get bank loans easily. Others say this will make non self-help group members vote for the opposition.
Chandran is the DDMK candidate. That is Vijayakanth's party. His party man KKR Pandi claims they will poll 40,000 votes. He arrives at this figure by declaring that their party already has 30,000 members in this constituency. The candidate is a commission agent who sells vegetables. So, he is constantly in touch with farmers. He has been in the Vijaykanth fan club for ten years.
Vijayakanth has not come canvassing here yet. Pandi says, "We told him to come on May 2 as he should come after everyone has come and gone. Only then will we get the maximum effect."
'Just see what Vijayakanth will do'
Locals say the DMK came to life only four days ago. Seeman had told the DMK president that party workers were disheartened and not working hard. The president had immediately sent his son M K Alagiri to set things right. DMK members admit that 'Anna's (elder brother) visit' had inspired them.
Cynics say the DMK has only just realized that the ADMK is going to win these elections with money power. So, they too have opened their moneybags. As of today, the amount of money the DMK has spent is more than equal to that of the ADMK.
As we make our way through the town, we find an auto-rickshaw canvassing for the DMK. The man inside announces: "Dayanidhi Maran made a phone call from Kanyakumari to Kashmir possible for Re.1!"
Son rises in Chennai's Thousand Lights
There are a couple of auto-rickshaws and a jeep flying flags. The flag looks like the national flag but, instead of the Ashok Chakra, it has a map of India at the centre, with a crown inside. This is the flag of an independent candidate called Bhaskaran. A Christian, he has been mobilizing the Christian and Muslim vote. He has come from Chennai to contest as it is the chief minister's constituency.
On the way back to Madurai, our bus passes a long ADMK convoy. Sharat Kumar is canvassing for Amma on top of a bus, showing two fingers (for two leaves) to everyone. Two old ladies in our bus start arguing. One says it is Sharat Kumar, the other believes it is Vijayakanth. A teenage girl intervenes to declare it is indeed Sharat Kumar.
I do not know whether one should say 'poor Vijaykanth' or 'poor Sharat Kumar'.
