Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Tamil vote a decisive force

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI, APRIL 17. There is a sizeable Tamil population in the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the district -- Chittoor and Tirupati. In fact four out of seven Assembly segments in each of the two parliamentary constituencies are situated across the Tamil Nadu border and the Tamils inhabiting the segments to a large extent influence the poll prospects of the candidates.

For instance, the four segments bordering Tamil Nadu in the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency are Puttur, Nagari, Sathyavedu and Sullurpet on Chennai side and the ones in the Chittoor Parliamentary constituency are Chittoor, Vepanjeri, Kuppam and Palamaner on the Vellore and Krishnagiri side. As a matter of fact Kuppam, the constituency from where the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, is running for a fourth consecutive term to the Assembly is situated at the confluence of three states -- AP, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. That is the reason why some of the candidates fielded in these segments are either Tamils or Tamil-speaking.

The highlight of the current election from the Tamil angle is the fielding of Roja, the Telugu-Tamil actress by the TDP in the border segment of Nagari with an eye on the Tamil vote. Roja's husband, R.K. Selvamani, is of Tamil origin. Moreover a good chunk of the Tamils in the segment belong to the community to which Roja's husband belongs.The memory of MGR still holds good here; so much so that the campaigns are marked by playing of his hit-songs and his look-alikes dancing to the popular numbers from his hit films and waving to the crowd amid rapturous response from the voters.Roja has even sought the blessings of the Tamil Nadu, C.M. Jayalalithaa, who promised to despatch some of her ministers to Nagari and to other border segments. The Central Minister, Tirunavukkarasu, who recently threw his lot behind the BJP yesterday campaigned vigorously in Nagari, Chittoor, Palamaner and Kuppam constituencies. Predictably he likened Chandrababu Naidu to the late MGR and referred to Naidu not visiting his Kuppam segment even to file his nomination and leaving the task to the people themselves. He said it was akin to the late MGR once sweeping the polls in Tamil Nadu from his sickbed in the USA and hoped Naidu too would romp home as always with a bulldozer majority.

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