Tamil Nadu polls 2021: Karur sees vulgar display of money & might

Karur assembly segment is witnessing vulgar display of wealth and muscle power as two heavyweights and friendsturned-foes – transport minister M R Vijayabhaskar and former transport minister V Senthil Balaji – slug it out.
Stakes are high for both as they have ministerial ambition. As per the affidavits filed, Senthil Balaji has assets worth ₹2.9 crore and Vijayabhaskar ₹9.45 crore. But the election campaigns of both the candidates present a much pompous picture. Vijayabhaskar has been generous in doling out sops to the poor ever since he became minister. His Pongal gift hampers have always been a talking point. Balaji has been equally generous, after he joined the DMK two years ago and decided to shift his constituency from Aravakurichi to Karur after taking over the reins of the DMK district unit. All through the pandemic, both Vijayabhaskar and Balaji were active in distributing assistance to the people. Largesse continued even on the night after the Election Commission announced polls on February 26 as cadres of a particular party fanned out to distribute stainless steel plates to voters.

Heavy crowd at election offices have prompted both the parties to set up kitchens to feed party workers. To add to the melee, the two main candidates have fielded 65 dummy candidates to have muscle power at polling booths and counting centres.
The fallout of heavy deployment of man power by the two parties is that there have been clashes in many places. Several dozen people have been injured in such incidents. Things are set to get worse closer to the election date, said H Krishnan, a resident of the district.
Both the parties have been attracting milling crowd at public rallies. Roads were choked when Edappadi K Palaniswami and DMK youth wing leader Udhayanidhi Stalin campaigned in the town. In a surprise move, former minister and DMK state agriculture wing secretary M Chinnasamy joined the AIADMK on Wednesday.
Karur is predominantly an AIADMK fort and has elected the party candidates seven times, whereas the DMK has won only thrice. Gounders comprise about one-third of the voters and the two Dravidian majors have fielded gounders. Balaji himself has won twice from this constituency as AIADMK candidate. One of the reasons why Balaji shifted his constituency from Aravakurichi back to Karur is that he could not fulfil the promise given to 25,000 homeless families in Aravakurichi that he would give them three cents land each.
Vijayabhaskar has brought a government medical college and many infrastructure projects to Karur, but their rivalry has also stalled some projects such as the bypass road. Balaji has promised developmental projects worth ₹2,000 crore for the town. No political party is bothered about stopping pollution of Amaravathy river, lamented S Gopalan, chairman of consumer protection movement.