Sentiments usually take centrestage in Dravidian politics, especially during polls.
Victories in select constituencies across the state, according to a popular belief, will make winning party form the government in the state. Similarly, the ruling party will be based on who wins in Ramanathapuram segment, the voters there strongly believe. They have strong reasons too. In 1957, Congress candidate Shanmugarajeshwara Set
hupathy of Ramanathapuram samasthanam won the constituency and the party with Rajagopalachariyar as chief minister had formed the government. Again in 1962, the same candidate was re-elected and Kamarajar headed the Congress government in the state.
In 1967, Thangappan contested on DMK ticket and proved that the sentiment of Ramathanapuram prevailed since for the first time DMK formed government with C.N. Annadurai heading the government. Then followed Mr Annadurai’s demise and M. Karunanidhi led the party from the front. In 1971, Sathyendran contested from the constituency and won and Karunanidhi donned the mantle of chief ministership, the first of his five terms at the helm of affairs. Then came the era of AIADMK. Ramasamy emerged victorious in 1977 and the 1984 polls brought M.G. Ramachandran to the helm. Sathyendran sought reelections and won in 1989 when Mr Karunanidhi became the chief minister. But the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and subsequent sweep by J. Jayalalithaa in the 1991 election made her the chief minister. Thennavan was then the AIADMK candidate from Ramanathapuram.
The 1996 elections saw DMK’s Rahman Khan winning the polls enabling Karunanidhi to take over as chief minister again. In the 2001 polls, Anwar Raja of AIADMK won and Ms Jayalalithaa headed the state. The subsequent 2006 polls saw DMK come to power with Hasan Ali, the candidate of its ally Congress, emerging victorious. Now in the 2011 polls, voters in Ramanathapuram and candidates themselves strongly believe that the victory here will decide the prospects of the major parties.