A father and son selling vegetables near an ancient temple at Vaangal in Karur district show the direction for the election campaign point. “They are seeking votes for rising sun,” they say, as the sound of speakers and crackers are heard in the air. Karur, a business hub in west Tamil Nadu, is one of the most-watched constituencies in this Assembly election, with the present and former transport ministers locking horns.
The contest is between AIADMK’s Karur strongman and Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar and former transport minister V. Senthil Balaji. Balaji switched over from the AIADMK to T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s AMMK and is now seeking mandate as part of the DMK.
But this father, who had always seen both contenders as the representatives of “Jayalalitha amma katchi” says he has to choose between the two. The vegetable seller is quite aware of the cash-for-votes and the corruption charges against both the former and present transport ministers. “I will choose among them. But there is no amma to vote for her two leaves,” he tells.
An ardent MGR fan and a committed AIADMK voter since the MGR days, he has been hearing the statements made by both Vijayabhaskar and Balaji for the past few days. “My life has not changed in the last ten years. In 2016, when I voted for Amma, I thought everything would change. But what can I say now? Let me see. There is one more week to go for election date,” he says, smiling.
Karur is a vibrant business hub, exporting garments to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore annually. It also has several industry units, which are into making cushions, curtains, floor mats and mosquito nets. The cushions and curtains from Karur get exported to US and European nations. Bus body-building firms here provide employment opportunities for people across the state. Exports and bus building apart, this part of Tamil Nadu is known to be fertile as twin rivers, the Cauvery and Amaravati, flow along supporting banana, betel leaves and paddy cultivation.
A religious hub famous for its ancient Shiva temples and Jain caves, Karur was a Congress bastion from 1952 to 2001. But since 2001, Karur became a battleground for the Dravidian parties. From 2006 to 2016, the AIADMK won from Karur. In 2006 Assembly polls, Senthil Balaji, who contested on AIADMK ticket, won against the DMK candidate, Vasuki Murugesan, with a margin of 5,300 votes and Congress’s Jothimani with a margin of 44,000 votes in 2011. In 2016, Senthil Balaji was moved to the nearby Aravakurichi, one of the Assembly segments in Karur district and Vijayabhaskar contested to win. Though Balaji won from Aravakurichi, he shifted loyalties to AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran and then moved to the DMK to contest the bypolls in 2019. While Balaji wants to come back to his sentimental Karur, Vijayabhaskar wants to retain the seat.
Charge-sheeted in a recruitment case registered for making recruitments when he was the transport minister between 2011-16, Balaji has come out with a series of videos explaining Vijayabhaskar’s 'loot' through a company. “People know about this minister from Karur. You ask anyone, they will tell you,” Balaji says.
Vijayabhaskar, meanwhile, believes victory will be his, given his line of work in the constituency in the past five years. Standing atop of a campaign vehicle, Chief Minister Palanisami defends his cabinet colleague Vijayabhaskar, saying “to avoid sand mining in this region, you should vote for Vijayabhaskar.” However, Vijayabhaskar himself is facing strong anti-incumbency on account of several controversies surrounding him in the recent days and is mocked as “palm oil bhaskar” by his detractors, after he distributed relief materials during coronavirus lockdown.
