OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), also known as Rajiv Gandhi Salai, is home to more than 6,200 listed software companies, and a vast majority of Tamil Nadu’s one million population of software engineers works and resides on the road. Sholinganallur assembly constituency, which is among the six segments that make up Chennai South parliamentary constituency, is a melting pot of people from distinct ethnic, linguistic and geographical backgrounds — a diversity that makes it a mini India itself.
Since 1957, when it came into being, Chennai South has had 11 MPs, of whom one — T T Krishnamachari — had two stints as Union finance minister. After winning it and holding it for a brief while in 1967, C N Annadurai became TN chief minister. Another representative from here, R Venkataraman, held the finance and industry portfolios at the Centre and later became the President of the nation. Murasoli Maran, who as Union commerce minister made a mark at global trade negotiations in Doha, also represented this seat. Actor Vyjayanthimala Bali held it twice, before T R Baalu held it four times on the trot.
A former professor, Thamizhachi is looking to become only the second MP to get a second term after completing a full term. In its 67-year history, only T R Baalu has had that distinction: he had two full terms between 1996 and 2009. The lure of Chennai South is such that Soundararajan has quit her gubernatorial position in two places — Telangana and the Union Territory of Puducherry — to try and get elected as an MP, even as ADMK has fielded a former minister’s son.
Understandably, the good-andbad of dynastic politics is never discussed in this constituency, as all three enjoy a family legacy and aren’t shy about it.
The Chennai floods, which virtually drowned OMR, remain a sore point for the sitting MP on her roadshows.
BJP has always fancied the seat, perhaps because three Brahmindominant assembly constituencies — Mylapore, Triplicane and Tambaram — out the total six fall within Chennai South. Way back in 1998, BJP’s former heavyweight, Jana Krishnamoorthy, lost it by a small margin of about 20,000 votes. He then took the Rajya Sabha route via Gujarat and became Union law minister. That was the closest BJP ever came to winning the crown jewel.
But Thamizhachi has rocksolid backing from DMK, which still reveres her father, V Thangapandian, for his unstinted loyalty to the party and its patriarch, M Karunanidhi. “She’s a doctorate, enjoys a clean image and her performance in Parliament was fairly good,” says Thileep Raju, a voter who says he supports only a worthy candidate and has least regard for party affiliation.
As a star constituency, Chennai South has some inexplicable social paradoxes that reflect the deeper political tradition in Tamil Nadu. Despite a tight-knit Brahmin vote bank, no major party has fielded anyone from the community this time. Vyjayanthimala Bali of Congress was the last Brahmin to get elected from here. That was 40 years ago — in 1984.
In fact, not a single Brahmin candidate figures in the list of any major political party in Tamil Nadu for any of the 39 constituencies.
Its cosmopolitan demography, high literacy and a very aware electorate notwithstanding, Chennai South saw the poorest voter turnout in Tamil Nadu in 2019. The state average was about 72%, but this constituency saw only about 57%.
“If such a poor turnout is witnessed in a constituency like Chennai North, it is understandable, because it is full of labourers and entrepreneurs who have come here from other cities and states,” says E Panneerselvam, who slogged in 2019 for a candidate who eventually lost. “Higher turnout might have worked in our favour. We tried, but to no avail,” he says.
Winner of Chennai South wins not just a seat. Along with the seat comes a lot of pride, legacy and honour.
