The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Auto, cycle rallies round up campaign

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 12, 2006
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Auto, cycle rallies round up campaign

Karthik Subramanian

Close contest likely; DMDK also aggressive

CHENNAI : The election campaign for the Chennai Corporation polls ended on Wednesday evening with candidates taking out autorickshaw and cycle rallies and processions in a last-minute bid to win votes ahead of the polling on Friday.

Local Administration Minister and DMK deputy general secretary M.K. Stalin led the campaign for the DMK-led alliance. Starting off at Mannadi, Mr. Stalin focused on the previous AIADMK government's handling of the Chennai Corporation council. "They (AIADMK) diluted the powers of the elected council by convening the council meetings once in three months. The meetings were not conducted in a democratic manner ... often public interest was sacrificed over political fights."

The Minister said the state government had initiated several projects for North Chennai alone. Pointing out the incomplete Perambur flyover, Mr. Stalin recalled that it was one of the 10 flyovers started during his tenure as Chennai Mayor between 1996 and 2001. "The AIADMK alleged irregularities in construction and even set up a committee to look into the charges. But they were not able to prove any of their allegations and the project was stalled without a reason for five years. Now we have taken up the project and construction will begin soon."

Several AIADMK candidates too took out processions along with the party cadre. In Purasawalkam, R.K. Nagar MLA P.K. Sekar Babu led the campaign for the party's councillor candidate Venkatesh Babu. A huge posse of partymen accompanied AIADMK candidate for division 106 N. Balaganga as he went canvassing.

At Royapuram, MLA and former minister D. Jayakumar accompanied the party's candidate for division 16, Vijayakumari, on the campaign. The AIADMK partymen also took out a cycle rally in Choolaimedu.

Union Minister G.K. Vasan led a cycle rally through Central Chennai, where he spearheaded the campaign for the candidates of the DMK-led alliance, including the Congress candidate for division 49 S.V. Shankar. Former MLA S.G. Vinayakamurthy and North Chennai Congress secretary R. Mano accompanied him.

H. Raja of the BJP campaigned for the party candidates in Triplicane.

Close contest?

The ruling party in the State Assembly captured a majority in the Chennai Corporation council in the previous two elections, though the contest between the DMK and the AIADMK was much closer in 2001. There are indications that this election might also run neck-to-neck, given the AIADMK's good showing in the City Assembly constituencies in the Assembly elections earlier this year.

The DMK-led alliance has allotted 21 council election seats to PMK, which so far has no elected representative in the Chennai Corporation council. The DMDK has been aggressive in its campaign in the city. The Communist parties have fielded candidates against DMK candidates in a few wards.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu