Bargur constituency has always been viewed as the AIADMK forte, and is famously invoked for having been the first constituency of the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa’s electoral contest under the faction led by her in 1989, and equally remembered as the constituency that handed out her defeat in 1996.
A major part of the constituency except Kaveripattinam union is dry. With agriculture as the mainstay, cultivation was sustained by bore well irrigation. Today, number of borewells has turned dry and this has affected water availability for livestock too. The lush coconut groves and plantains that were once sustained by pump irrigation have become unsustainable.
For the constituents, the implementation of Badethalaavaai canal project will help filling up of lakes from the run-off from River Thenpennai. The project will help filling of 28 lakes that are fed by River Thenpennai. The promise figured in the poll manifesto of the AIADMK in 2016, but was not implemented.
Bagur was held for the last two terms by the AIADMK and briefly held by the DMK in 2009. Notwithstanding its image as an AIADMK forte, Bargur is now encumbered by anti-incumbency and factionalism. The AIADMK has fielded A. Krishnan, a native of Kaveripattinam union. Seen as ‘unfamiliar’, he is also viewed to have won the ticket at the behest of AIADMK leader from Kaveripattinam K.P. Munusamy. On the other hand, Bargur is also seen as a turf of AIADMK’s M. Thambidurai, a countervailing figure to Mr. Munusamy. Mr. Krishnan’s candidature will have to wade through factionalism.
The DMK has fielded D. Mathiyazhagan. Mr. Mathiyazhagan was the district secretary of Rajini Makkal Mandran until early 2019, when he switched sides with a considerable chunk of fans to the DMK. Amid speculations that he would be given a ticket for the Lok Sabha constituency, there was dissent to according importance to a new entrant.
Mr. Mathiyazhagan is also the president of the pulp industries association of Krishnagiri district and has an array of business interests in Bargur in the form of quarries and factories. Though seen as a reasonably new entrant to the DMK, his pitch is also that he is a native of a village in Bargur constituency.
The constituency’s vote bank includes a considerable section of Naidus, Vellalar Gownders. It also has an equal proportion of Vanniyars and Dalits.