Palacode Assembly constituency: two-cornered contest on the cards in the AIADMK fortress

A rain-fed agrarian landscape, with agriculture as mainstay; and yet no irrigation/water harvesting schemes to sustain that agriculture on the one hand, and no trace of nascent industry on the other has left Palacode constituency in a limbo.

For Palacode’s agrarian constituents with marginal landholdings, two long-standing demands for irrigation schemes that would harvest run-off from river Thenpennai in Krishnagiri and channel it to the water bodies of Palacode, would help reclaim agriculture. The first one - Ennekolputhur project announced but still in works envisions channeling of the waters of river Thenpennai to Thumbalahalli dam in Palacode; while the second project if taken up will channel Thenpennai water from Aliyalam checkdam to Thoolsetti lake in Palacode. The Palacode Sugar Cooperative Society, a once a flourishing mill for over 25 years was shutdown due to fall in sugarcane production, for lack of water.

The potential for agro-based industries remain untapped despite demand from farmers for value-addition for the tomatoes and mangoes grown in Palacode and copra production centre for the copra cultivation in Marandahalli. Outmigration of youth due to lack of captive industry is another issue.

Time stood still in Palacode town panchayat on the Sunday morning after the DMK released its list of candidates for the Assembly elections. The list sprung a dark horse – with Dr. S. Senthil Kumar, the former DMK MP of Dharmpuri named the candidate for the constituency. He had defeated PMK’s incumbent MP Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

His 2019 win sprung him from a novice to a strategist focusing on booth-level votes and cultivated grassroots network, cutting through intra-party sabotage. He will be facing the AIADMK’s five-term MLA K.P. Anbalagan in Palacode.

The constituency is proudly an AIADMK fortress. The sitting AIADMK MLA Anbalagan began his winning streak in 2001, and sustained it for five consecutive terms, with three terms while his party held power, which included two uninterrupted terms of a full decade in power, and two terms as Minister at that time. Despite this long stint, the performance bar appeared to be set low for the sitting MLA. On ground, an oft-repeated anecdote of a random voter is that of Mr. Anbalagan’s bipartisan social-engagements. “He would not miss a wedding or funeral, slipping in a ₹500 note during every social visit,” is a common refrain.

Now, this bar is being elevated with the entry of the DMK’s Dr. Kumar. In his first campaign this week, Dr. Kumar questioned this framing of performance of a five-term MLA of the Opposition. He is seen as elevating the discourse, foregrounding actual issues of the constituency, cutting through feudal patron-client relationships informing voter choices, so far.

He has accused Mr. Anbalagan of failing the constituency despite a 25 year stint as MLA. “Setting up of arts college and polytechnic is not an achievement of an MLA, but critical water management schemes are,” he said. He also listed out his infrastructure projects during his stint as MP between 2019-2024 in comparison. This line of campaign is set to intensify.

The AIADMK has projected him as an “outsider” (from neighbouring Dharmapuri Assembly constituency).

Dr. Kumar is widely seen as ‘hand-picked by the Chief Minister’ himself to break into Palacode. He is anticipated to lead the campaign unencumbered by the restraints of a local functionary, and the feudal clout wielded by Mr. Anbalagan. Up until now, the DMK’s candidates were local unit functionaries, not matching the strength of Mr. Anbalagan.

In this predominantly two-cornered contest, however, Vijay’s TVK is set to cut into the votes of the PMK, AIADMK and the DMK in that order. The PMK secured over 30,000 votes in 2016 fighting alone in Palacode. In 2021, these votes saw a complete transfer to the AIADMK-PMK alliance securing a winning margin of over 30,000 votes for Mr. Anbalagan. However, with the TVK’s entry, votes of the PMK and the AIADMK are likely to be cut under, favouring the DMK. According to local observers, DMK’s youth is far more ideologically harnessed unlike the disparate youth mobilisation of the other two parties.

Caste question

Dr. Kumar is also the first Vanniyar candidate to be fielded in the Vanniyar-dominant Palacode to faceoff Mr. Anbalagan, also a Vanniyar, breaking from the past where the party fielded only Kongu Vellalar Gounder candidates to capture the votes of the second dominant community there. With this, DMK aims to skirt caste polarisation, and to swing neutral, educated Vanniyar community votes in its favour. At the same time, with DMK’s district secretary P. Palaniappan, a Kongu Vellalar Gounder at the helm, it aims to garner those votes as well here. R. Gopi of the TVK and Boopathi Ramasamy of NTK are in the fray.