Chennai: Candidates pitted against DMDK leader Vijayakanth in Ulundurpet seem to be not cowed down because of his candidature in the constituency.
The seat has been won by AIADMK or DMK from 1977. The ruling party has nominated sitting MLA R. Kumaraguru. DMK has fielded G.R. Vasantavel, while PMK has pitted its spokesperson and popular advocate K. Balu.
It was a reserved constituency earlier. It was dereserved in 2011. The area is dominated by the Vanniyar community, which has an estimated population of nearly 1.5 lakh. Those belonging to SC number nearly 70,000. The candidates for PMK and DMK belong to Vanniyar community, while the AIADMK nominee belongs to Udayar community. Kumaraguru said he won from Thirunavalur in 2006 and was successful in Ulundurpet in 2011 polls too showing that people in the seat did not vote on community lines.
“During the last five years, I have brought schemes worth Rs 2,000 crores for the constituency. I allocated three acres of land to the girls higher secondary school here and built school buildings worth Rs 3.5 crore. There were only five primary health centres and I built five more. I have prepared pamphlets listing the schemes I have completed distributing them to voters.”
Vasanthavel said, “I belong to Vanniyar community. My wife is Thirunavalur panchayat union president and I am the vice chairman. AIADMK won here due to its alliance. I am well known to the people as I am with them. Vijayakanth is an outsider and his campaign would not be trusted here”.
PMK candidate Balu is also confident and asserted he could beat Vijayakanth. He said “Vijayakanth is an illusion created by cinema. He contested from Vriddhachalam and Rishivandiyam during the previous two elections. Why is he changing the constituency. He knows that people would drive him away. I am a popular advocate who fought for uniform school education, entrance examination for professional courses and removal of liquor shops along highways”.
He also stressed that Vanniyars were in large numbers in Ulundurpet. For Vijayakanth, it is a new seat. “He has done nothing in politics. Since people want a change, my victory is certain”, he said.
