Tamil Nadu   

DPA's poor show in Tirupur "due to lack of coordination"

M. Gunasekaran

No party led the campaign and worked for overall victory of alliance

TIRUPUR: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance swept local body elections in the western region, but the AIADMK-MDMK combine put up a tough fight in Tirupur.

Despite being a mega alliance and having heavyweights such as Coimbatore MP K. Subbarayan of the CPI and Tirupur MLA C. Govindasamy of the CPI (M) in its fold, the DPA just managed to get a slender majority. It won only 28 wards of the 52-member council.

The AIADMK, and its ally MDMK, which won 17 and 5 wards, posed a threat to the combine till the last round of counting. The main reason for the poor performance of the DMK alliance was lack of coordination among the alliance partners, says a political activist. "There was no coordination at all. In most of the wards we lost due to rebel candidates from our alliance partners. It may appear to be big alliance but in real terms there was no such element at all," a CPI functionary said.

When former chairman and town unit DMK secretary K. Selvaraj was in the fray, the fielding of the State Secretariat Member of CPI (M), K. Thangavel, for councillor caused some "confusion" among the cadres, sources said. The latter was fielded by the party in the last minute with an eye on the Mayor's post of the to-be-upgraded Municipal Corporation of Tirupur. This did not go down well with the DMK functionaries, he added. While lack of coordination was one reason, another was that no party had led the campaign and worked for the overall victory of the alliance by concentrating on the wards where its candidates' chances were weak.

Taking advantage of it, the rival camp made it an issue during the campaign. The AIADMK district secretary and former MLA C. Sivasamy, who was eyeing the chairman's post, cashed in by highlighting the fact that there would be many contenders for the chairmanship if the DPA won. The DMK has retained the chairmanship for its candidate, despite the CPI(M), CPI and the Congress claims. DMK's nominee Mr. Selvaraj, in all probability, will become the next chairman of the council.

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

Stories in this Section

Students in our country can now get to work with robots
Rs. 3000 crore plan to develop textile infrastructure
DPA members cast aside differences
DMK winners in local body polls call on Karunanidhi
DPA's poor show in Tirupur "due to lack of coordination"
Agro facility centres for cotton farmers mooted
NTC sells mills' surplus land
Widow receives family pension after 30 years
Scarcity vs plenty
Osteoporosis can strike earlier than you think
TN-FORCES leads push for child rights
HIV awareness campaign targets suburban commuters
Briefly

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu