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VANDAVASI
About three centuries ago Vandavasi saw a battle for supremacy between the British and the French, but now it is battle for the electoral supremacy between MDMK and AIADMK.
About three centuries ago Vandavasi saw a battle for supremacy between the British and the French, but now it is battle for the electoral supremacy between MDMK and AIADMK.
In 1760, in the famous battle of Wandiwash, as it was then called, the French had waged a battle with the British in support of Nawab of Arcot, but the British ultimately won it.
Now MDMK's Deputy General Secretary Gingee Ramachandran, who had quit the Vajpayee Ministry in the wake of an alleged 'cash for transfer' scam involving his Personal Secretary, but only to be reinducted, is facing a political novice Rajalakshmi Rajan of the AIADMK in this Vanniyar heartland.
Ramachandran resigned from the Vajpayee ministry for the second time in January last, when the MDMK decided to pull out of NDA.
The presence of Ramachandran makes the tussle interesting as he is contesting the seat for the first time.
Ramachandran, who had won from the neighbouring Tindivanam constituency in 1998 and 1999, shifted to Vandavasi, claiming that he hailed from this Lok Sabha constituency.
Ramachandran had been elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly many times from Gingee, which comes under this Lok Sabha seat.
Known for its mat industry, this constituency is a completely rural and agrarian one.
The proposal to take over the Arunachaleswarer temple at Tiruvannamalai by the ASI, is being made as a big issue here.
The ASI proposed to take over the temple last year but it was put on hold as some of the devotees went to the Suprme Court against it.
The ASI had submitted a modified proposal in the court.
The presiding deity at the temple is Agni Lingam, one of the five lingams dedicated to Lord Shiva and the people wanted to preserve the sanctitity of the temple and expressed apprehensions that if the Temple was taken over by the ASI, the traditions followed by the temple could not be maintained.
However, ASI contended that there was no need for any apprehension as it proposed to take over the temple as a heritage monument and temple traditions would not be affected in any way.
The Ginjee fort, from where the historical legend Desing Rajan, fought a brave war against the British in the 17th century and forms parts of the constituency, is also maintained by the ASI.
The Sattanur dam, the locale which is used by many a film producers, is also located in the constituency.
Successive failure of monsoon had resulted in continous drought and there is an acute shortage of drinking water, which is also being made an election issue in the constituency.
Ramachandran has to totally depend on the PMK, which has a wide spread presence in the constituency.
PMK polled over one lakh votes here when it contested without any ally in 1996. In 1998 and in 1999, PMK's nominee M Durai won the seat for the party. More
However, Durai distanced himself from the party following differences with its founder Dr S Ramadoss. The PMK MLA from Vandavasi Murugavelrajan is a rebel in the party and was not toeing the partyline in the state assembly.
Rajalakshmi Rajan, President of Polur Town Panchayat in the constituency, is a relatively unknown person. She will totally depend on the charisma of her leader Jayalalithaa, who had already campaigned for her.
MDMK chief Vaiko and DMK Chief M Karunanidhi are to canvass for Ramachandran soon, while Ramadoss and his close relative and former Congress MP from the constituency, M Krishnasamy are working for the victory of Ramachandran.
Being a predominently backward Vanniyar constituency, the erstwhile Vanniya party, Common Wheel Party, coined its slogan of 'Vanniya votes not for the candidates of other community' from here way back in 1952. However, that party merged with Congress with its leader late Manikavelu Naikar joining the Kamaraj Ministry.
In 1952, the constituency returned a Common Wheel Party candidate, but in 1957 and 1962, congress nominees were elected. In 1967 and in 1971, G Viswanathan of the DMK was elected but he later switched his loyalty to the AIADMK in 1972, when late M G Ramachandran formed the party.
The constituency had returned a AIADMK nominee only once, that is in 1977. It became a congress bastion from 1980 onwards till 1996, returning D Pattusamy (1980), L Balaraman (1984, 1989) and M Krishnasamy (1991).
Its hold over the constituency was broken in 1996, when the TMC, an offshoot of the Congress won the seat. From 1998, it became a PMK seat.
