Situated on the banks of the Cauvery, the largely agrarian constituency of Kulithalai has a definite place in the electoral history of the State as it was from here that the former Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi began his long journey as a legislator in 1957.
Although the two major Dravidian parties have held sway here in alternative elections over the past few decades, the constituency has hardly witnessed any development down the years. In the absence of any industries, agriculture sustains the rural economy here. Besides paddy, banana, sugarcane and betelvine are raised on this fertile belt. Floriculture cultivation is also taken up in some parts of the constituency.
While farmers in the constituency are faced with an array of issues as elsewhere in the State, lack of employment opportunities locally has been forcing youths to migrate to other districts. A large number of semi-skilled workers from the constituency are employed in Karur, a major hub for manufacture of handloom textile made-ups.
Kulithalai town, which lies between Karur and Tiruchi, sorely lacks in civic amenities. Topping the list of poll issues, as in the past few decades, has been the need for establishing a proper bus terminus in the town. “There is no proper bus stand in the town. It has been an unfulfilled demand pending for decades now. It is time a proper site was identified to establish a bus terminus,” regrets A.V.Gopala Desikan (86), a farmer-activist of the town.
A proposal to establish a new terminus, drawn up some time back, is yet to see the light of the day. “A piece of land belonging to Kadambavaneswarar Temple was identified for establishing the bus stand. But the proposal ran aground due to litigation,” says R.Nandakumar, an advocate and resident of Kulithalai.
The town has hardly have proper civic amenities, says Mr.Desikan. The seven irrigation channels which are passing through the town have heavily silted up and irrigation has been affected for over 560 acres. This has also resulted in stagnation of sewage making them breeding grounds of mosquitoes. The depleting groundwater table is another concern for farmers, he added.
“There is hardly any industrial development in the constituency; this is another major issue. Agro-based industries, especially for banana, could be established here. But elected representatives of the constituency in the past have been largely ineffective,” observes Mr.Nandakumar.
In the absence of an elected urban local body, civic problems have not been addressed. Sand mining on the sly by some youths operating on two-wheelers is going on some parts of the constituency, he says.
The DMK has denied a ticket to the sitting MLA, E.Ramar, and brought back R.Manickam, who won from the constituency in 2006 though he lost in 2011. The AIADMK has retained N.R.Chandrasekar, who lost the 2016 elections to Mr.Ramar. V.Nirosha, AMMK, Seeni Prakasu, NTK, S.Manikandan, IJK, and M.Shivakumar, Puthiya Tamilagam, are among the 18 contestants in the constituency. It remains to be seen whether the constituency voters would maintain their record of choosing candidates of AIADMK and DMK alternatively in elections since 1991.
