CM Palaniswami's ‘no more new districts’ speech unsettles partymen

CHENNAI: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who went on a district formation spree in the past one year, is now under pressure from his partymen to form more new districts. His announcement in Erode on Friday that there would not be any more new districts in the state has stunned his partymen in Kumbakonam and Pollachi, where local AIADMK leaders were harping on district formation to strengthen their eroding base.
Palaniswami has been using formation of new districts as a political tool to make inroads into certain pockets in the state; it has yielded some positive results too. Tirunelveli, Vellore, Kancheepuram and Villupuram districts were bifurcated and trifurcated to create five new districts. In March, when coronavirus started spreading in the state, Palaniswami announced at a public event in Nagapattinam that the district would be bifurcated to create Mayiladuthurai district, the 38th one in TN. It was a surprise and gave hopes to partymen in other regions too, who raised demands for new districts. Palaniswami does not want to entertain such requests any longer.
After a review meeting at Erode collectorate, the CM told mediapersons that reports of bifurcation of Erode district were wrong. He went on to add, “No district will be divided anymore.” The announcement came on a day when some 15,000 traders in far off Kumbakonam, Papanasam and Thiruvidaimarudur taluks downed shutters, demanding a new district. A series of protests were organised in the past three months, two lakh postcards were dispatched from the region to the CM demanding formation of Kumbakonam district. Women had staged ‘kolam’ protests. All parties stand united to get district headquarter status for Kumbakonam. “We are confident that it will happen,” said former AIADMK MLA Rama Ramanathan.
Deputy speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman has been campaigning for carving out Pollachi as a separate district. There were some moves along this direction even during Jayalalithaa’s tenure as CM. Change of regime led to the DMK forming Tirupur district by including four taluks from Coimbatore and three from Erode districts. Protests in Udumalpet were ignored. “We want Udumalpet, Madathukulam, Pollachi and Valparai to be part of Pollachi district. It should have been announced earlier. We will continue to represent the CM,” Jayaraman said. Meanwhile, sources in the government said the state might still go and announce a new district before the elections. “Decisions are taken just like that,” said a senior official.