<p>Veteran DMK leader of this belt, ‘Veerapandi’ S Arumugam, who for long years has been Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister, takes on none other than his own niece Vijayalakshmi, fielded by Jayalalitha-led AIADMK. <br /><br />A constituency in this rugged land which has been alternately held by the DMK and the AIADMK since the 1957 Assembly elections — except twice when the Congress won as an ally of either of these main Dravidian parties— has now become a general seat after the delimitation, with an electorate of over 2.12 lakhs. <br /><br />Interestingly, the neighbouring Assembly constituency of ‘Veerapandi’ also witnesses a DMK-AIADMK fight between two heirs of the same warring families, where Arumugam’s son, A Rajendran of the DMK is pitted against his cousin S K Selvam of the AIADMK.<br /><br />“The OBC Vanniyars here are split in equal strength between the DMK and the AIADMK, that the Ramadoss-founded ‘Pattali Makkal Katchi’ (PMK) ostensibly as a sole representative of the Vanniyars doesn’t command much following here,” says Devan a farmer. The dalits are also in good numbers at Sankagiri.<br /><br />Though actor Vijayakant-led DMDK has a sizeable fan following in Salem and neighbouring districts, including Namakkal, the Vanniyars here are so strongly polarised between the DMK and AIADMK that other parties support are only additional, opined a daily wage worker at Thalaiyur.</p>
<p>Veteran DMK leader of this belt, ‘Veerapandi’ S Arumugam, who for long years has been Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister, takes on none other than his own niece Vijayalakshmi, fielded by Jayalalitha-led AIADMK. <br /><br />A constituency in this rugged land which has been alternately held by the DMK and the AIADMK since the 1957 Assembly elections — except twice when the Congress won as an ally of either of these main Dravidian parties— has now become a general seat after the delimitation, with an electorate of over 2.12 lakhs. <br /><br />Interestingly, the neighbouring Assembly constituency of ‘Veerapandi’ also witnesses a DMK-AIADMK fight between two heirs of the same warring families, where Arumugam’s son, A Rajendran of the DMK is pitted against his cousin S K Selvam of the AIADMK.<br /><br />“The OBC Vanniyars here are split in equal strength between the DMK and the AIADMK, that the Ramadoss-founded ‘Pattali Makkal Katchi’ (PMK) ostensibly as a sole representative of the Vanniyars doesn’t command much following here,” says Devan a farmer. The dalits are also in good numbers at Sankagiri.<br /><br />Though actor Vijayakant-led DMDK has a sizeable fan following in Salem and neighbouring districts, including Namakkal, the Vanniyars here are so strongly polarised between the DMK and AIADMK that other parties support are only additional, opined a daily wage worker at Thalaiyur.</p>
