PMK, AIADMK ready to face off in Edapadi, Omalur

SALEM: 

         Two senior functionaries of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) A Karthe and N Tamilarasu will be facing AIADMK rivals at Edapadi and Omalur Assembly segments, respectively, in Salem district.

         The PMK had denied a seat to its sitting MLA Kavery whose performance, according to the party, was lacklustre and instead, preferred Karthe, a deputy general secretary and former MLA. This Vanniyar-dominated Edapadi segment assumes significance since the delimitation exercise had hived off Taramangalam Assembly segment, held by the PMK. Karthe, a graduate in Political Science, has his ancestral roots in Edapadi though he stays in Salem city. But he is facing the tag of ‘outsider' in the Constituency, which has a sizeable rural population besides the weavers in Jalakandapuram and Ilampillai. “With the overwhelming support of the allies such as DMK, I can easily romp home,” he told The Hindu while campaigning in a village.

            He seeks votes on the basis of freebies and welfare schemes offered by the ruing alliance. He also warns that these will be discontinued if the AIADMK front came to power. He also assures weavers uninterrupted power supply and points out that if DMK is voted to power, the free supply of power will be increased from 200 to 500 units. The AIADMK's Salem west district secretary Palanisamy has been fielded again here causing widespread disenchantment among the rank and file of the cadre here.

         Palanisamy has been their candidate since 1989, seeing victories and defeats in various elections. The people are also critical for his non-performance since no major development scheme has been brought to the segment so far. But still, he banks on his leader's charisma and the people's wish for a change.

          Omalur is the other constituency where the PMK and AIADMK would be crossing swords. The PMK's deputy general secretary N Tamilarasu, seeking re-election is facing the AIADMK's Krishnan who lost the last polls by a thin margin of 3,663 votes. The DMDK as a single entity polled 12,384 votes, which Krishnan believes would see him through this time. Tamilrasu is banking solely on the party's alliance with the ruling front.

           Though it was he who spearheaded an uprising against Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugam before a patch-up was thrashed out, DMK cadre in tandem with VCK, have been working wholeheartedly for his success. “I have personally attended to the problems of the people of my Constituency,” he claims. However, he faces an uphill task against the AIADMK candidate who has no adverse remarks against him. The constituency has a majority of Vanniyars followed by Dalits and other caste groups. A rain-fed area, the segment comprises mainly labourers who migrate to Bangalore and other cities to earn their livelihood.

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Fierce battle for Jayankondam seat

ARIYALUR: 

       Battle lines have been drawn for a close encounter between Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader and State Vanniyar Sangam president Guru alias J.Gurunathan and P.Elavazhagan of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the district secretary of the party in the Vanniyar belt of Jayankondam constituency in the district.

10 in the fray

       Ten candidates, including four independents and six party candidates are in the fray in the constituency. After the removal of the Andimadam constituency in the delimitation exercise, the entire Andimadam block and part of T.Pazhur block came under the Jayankondam constituency.

         K.Rajendran of the AIADMK who won the seat in the 2006 by a slender margin of 2,057 votes, defeating his nearest rival Kaduvetti Guru (PMK), has joined the DMK recently.

Mr.Guru is contesting the seat for the third time, while Mr Elavazhagan is trying his luck for the first time. Mr Guru had contested the Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha seat in 2009, but become unsuccessful.

Achievements

           The PMK candidate is endearing himself to the voters by highlighting the achievements of the DMK government in the last five years and assuring them that he would take steps to solve the problems of the weavers in the constituency and to fulfil the long-pending demand for establishing a power plant at Jayankondam by utilising the coal in the region.

         On the other hand, Mr.Elavazhagan is throwing a stiff competition to his rival by promising the voters that he would make efforts to get adequate compensation for the lands given by the farmers for establishing the thermal power plant in Jayankondam and to get them employment.

Facilities for weavers

         He is also promising the people that he would take steps to help the weavers by providing them all facilities and to promote Gangaikondachozhapuram as a tourist hub . N.Ramasamy, a 65-year-old silk handloom weaver in Jayankondam, told The Hindu that no major development works had been carried out in the constituency over the last five years. Weaving is the major source of income and the weavers are now struggling for survival because of high cost of silk yarn.

         P.Rajathi, a housewife in Varadarajanpettai, blamed the government for not getting adequate drinking water and pointed out that they would vote for the party, which promised to ensure drinking water .

Power plant

           S.Veerasenan of T.Pazhur, an employee of a cement factory, said the people of the district were disappointed as the DMK government failed to establish a power plant at Jayankondam even though lands were acquired from the people. The DMK had won the Jayankondam seat five times followed by the AIADMK's four times, Congress's three and once by an independent in the last 13 Assembly polls in the State.

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First election for newly-formed Paramathi-Velur Assembly segment

Namakkal: 

         Newly-formed Paramathi-Velur Assembly segment was known as Kabilamalai assembly segment before delimitations in 2008. PMK candidates have won the last two elections – A.R. Malayappasamy in 2001 and sitting MLA Nedunchelian in 2006 – and are now striving hard to win this newly-formed assembly segment.

        C. Vadivel Gounder is PMK's candidate for this segment, whose main opponent would be U. Thaniarasu of Kongu Ilaygnar Peravai who is contesting under the AIADMK banner. Vadivel has already contested as an MLA in Tirupur way back in 1996 but could not make it to the legislative assembly.

        First time assembly election contestant Thaniarasu has already shown his strength as an independent candidate in the 2009 general elections, in which he won 24,230 votes. This was the highest number of votes polled by an independent candidate among the total 17 independent candidates who contested from Namakkal constituency.

Among the 12 other candidates only two are from political parties - 

K. Manoharan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 

and M. Thangadurai of Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK). 

The names and symbols allotted:

P. Gopal (Nagara), 

A. Sivasankar (Candles), 

P. Srinivasan (Carrot), 

N. Sundaram (Whistle), 

P. Thangaraj (Gas Cylinder), 

S.R. Balasubramaniam (Balloon),

R. Murugesan (Sewing Machine), 

S. Ravikumar (Television), 

N. Ramasamy (Gas Stove) 

 V. Vaithiyanathan (Road Roller). 

There are no women candidates in this assembly segment.

This segment has a total 1,86,609 voters of which female voters (92,918) outnumber the males (90,889) – this excludes the fresh voters numbering 2,802 who were enrolled in the voters list during the final phase of the election enrolment drive that concluded in the month of March.

         Kabilamalai assembly segment that was formed in the year 1962 has given victories to candidates of the DMK (1962, 1967, 1971, 1996), AIADMK (1977, 1980, 1989) PMK (2001, 2006) and Congress (1984).

         In the 2006 assembly elections sitting MLA Nedunchelian (PMK) bagged 47.25 percent of the votes, followed by MDMK's N.T. Gurusamy (39.96 percent), DMDK's K. Selvi (7.79 percent). The 10 independent candidates managed to secure only 4.25 percent of the total 1,22,862 votes.

          Main assurances given by candidates in this fertile segment where most of the people are farmers and farm labourers is to establish research facilities that would improve the quality of betel leaf produced there, formulating a permanent solution to ensure regular pay for sugarcane workers and renovating the Rajavaikal that is the main source of irrigation for this region. Some candidates also promised to work out a solution for the research on platinum fields in the agricultural lands there, which has led to poor real estate movement and also reduced the agricultural activities.

         Establishment of a fire station and construction of a bus stand are the other important assurances. 

In addition to the whole of Paramathi-Velur Taluk that comes under this assembly segment it also covers the following villages in Tiruchengode Taluk: 

Agaram, 

Konnayar, 

Periyamanali, 

Kokkalai, 

Illuppili, 

Punjaipudupalayam, 

Koothampoondi Agraharam, 

Pullagoundampatti, 

Koothampoondi, 

Lattivadi, 

Manathi, 

Mavureddipatti, 

Thondipatti, 

Musiri, 

Puthur East and

Bommanpatti. 

Illaiyapuram is the only village from Namakkal Taluk.

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AIADMK will pull back DMK's welfare schemes: PMK

Dr S. Ramadoss (left) at a meeting in Salem on Wednesday. Veerapandi S. Arumugam (centre) and G.K.Mani are also seen.

SALEM: 

        Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S Ramadoss took part in a series of road side meetings in Salem city campaigning for the candidates of Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK)-led alliance on Wednesday.

           Dr Ramadoss commenced his campaign with a meeting at Dadagapatti followed by meetings at Panamarathupatti, Salem Junction, Omalur, Mettur, Nangavalli and Elampillai. The Pattali Makkal Katchi leader said that if the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was voted to power, all welfare schemes which Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had initiated would be withdrawn.

        He said that at the public meeting in Chennai, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had presented a list of demands for Tamil Nadu to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. “These can be realised only when DMK alliance is voted to power,” he said. He campaigned for DMK candidates S R Sivalingam, R Rajendiran and A Rajendiran, Congress candidate Jayaprakash and PMK candidates Tamilarasu, M Karthee and G K Mani. Earlier, on Tuesday DMK leader K Veeramani campaigned forDPA alliance candidates in Salem district.

Sethu Samudhram

        At a meeting in Omalur where he campaigned for PMK candidate Tamilarasu, he blamed the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa for stopping the Sethu Samudhram project. The project, if completed, would have made availabe the promised jobs to many and overall development to Tamil Nadu.

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PMK, AIADMK to slug it out in Neyveli constituency

T. Velmurugan, PMK MLA, who filed his nomination paper for Neyveli Assembly constituency

Neyveli :

              The battle for the newly created Neyveli Assembly constituency, encompassing the entire Neyveli Township of the NLC and parts of Kurinjipadi and Panruti constituencies, is hotting up with the Pattali Makkal Katchi and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidates gearing for a direct contest.

              Sitting Panruti MLA T. Velmurugan filed his nomination for the Neyveli constituency on PMK ticket on Wednesday. He sought to erase the impression that he is an outsider or from another constituency by stating that “it should not be misconstrued that he has shifted from Panruti to Neyveli. Since his birthplace is Puliyurkattusagai that forms part of Neyveli he is very much a son of the soil.”

        He told he was not a stranger to Neyveli because he had taken up the cause of 14,000 permanent employees and 13,000 contract workmen of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation at various forums and succeeded in getting their demands fulfilled to a fair extent. It would be his endeavour to get regularisation for contract workmen in a phased manner. He would hold talks with the NLC management to waive the charges for providing electricity to over 1,000 households with 10,000 population, all daily-wage workers and small-time vendors, living in Blocks 21 and 30 of the Neyveli Township.

            He said that the NLC management should enhance the annual allocation for peripheral development from Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 5 crore a year. He noted that former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss mooted the idea of converting the NLC general hospital into a medical college and he would strive to achieve the goal. He would seek suitable compensation and alternative sites for the residents of Thenkuthu and Vanathirayapuram whose houses had developed cracks and cattle heads were scared away by constant (controlled) explosions triggered in the NLC mines.

             Appreciating the contributions made by the officials for improving the NLC performance, he said he would work in close coordination with them to improve the lot of the employees that in turn would lead to increased production and productivity. He would pursue the idea of setting up units for producing feni (a beverage extracted from cashew nuts), and jackfruit pulp and jam. He would impress upon the government and the NLC management to protect and streamline the water sources and take permanent flood control measures.

Candidates

The other candidates who filed nominations in Neyveli are: 

V.Gayathri (DMK dummy candidate)

P.Chandra (Independent)

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PMK Former MLA M. Karthi files papers for Edapadi Assembly segment.

Edapadi :

       M. Karthi, former PMK MLA, had filed his papers for the Edapadi Assembly segment.

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PMK to file nominations on its own in Puducherry

CHENNAI: 

          The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has decided to go ahead with filing of nominations on its own for the Puducherry Assembly elections, as no consensus has been arrived at in seat-sharing talks with the Congress.

          “We wanted five seats and one nomination. But the Congress is talking in terms of allotting one seat. We are not ready for it. Since not much time is left for filing nominations, we are going ahead with it,” said PMK MLA T. Velmurugan, the party's observer for elections. Though the PMK was upset, he expressed the hope that the Congress leadership would take into consideration the good relationship between the two parties and respond “positively to our demand.” He said the PMK could not settle for one seat because it already had two elected representatives and a nominated member. “We started the negotiations demanding nine seats and climbed down to seven and further to five,” he said.

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PMK moots conditional cash transfer scheme to tackle poverty

CHENNAI: 

             The Pattali Makkal Katchi on Monday suggested a conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme to tackle poverty.

        In its election manifesto released by its founder S. Ramadoss here, the PMK recommended payment of monthly assistance of Rs.1,000 - 1,500 to families below poverty line (BPL). Three conditions will be stipulated for availing of the scheme – those who were sending children regularly to schools; families that had ensured the administration of vaccination to their children up to six years of age and those in which pregnant women underwent regular ante-natal check-ups.

             Dr. Ramadoss said that the payment will be made only to women of those families that satisfied the conditions. This was a conscious decision as any cash payment to the men of the BPL families would mean that the money would be spent on liquor.

            Reiterating its support to the concept of caste-based census, the party wanted reservation in education and employment to all sections of society in proportion to the population of each section. It would take steps for getting the birth anniversary of E.V. Ramasamy Naicker declared as the day of social justice.

            The party sought the status of the Most Backward Classes to Vanniyar Christians, who are now part of the Backward Classes. Six per cent of the State's revenue should be earmarked for education. The party would strive to secure the approval of courts for providing 25 per cent reservation in engineering courses to rural students.

          It would make all-out efforts for the imposition of a total prohibition in the State. It would urge for the formation of the Metropolitan Planning Committee, comprising representatives of local bodies, a Constitutional requirement. The party wanted the constitution of a board for the development of backward districts. Steps would be taken for the establishment of the Farmers' Income Commission to ensure that farmers got remunerative prices. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be extended to agricultural work. The party explained how the Special Agro Economic Zones could be formed in phases.

Top priority

            Top priority would be given to upgrading infrastructure in Ambattur, Guindy and Hosur industrial estates. Referring to the Gujarat experiment of bus rapid transit (BRT) in Ahmedabad, the party said it would advocate the launch of this mode in Chennai.

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Constituencies identified for PMK

CHENNAI: 

         The Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday evening concluded constituency identification agreements with the Pattali Makkal Katchi, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and Indian Union Muslim League.

The PMK was given 30 constituencies, which are 

1. Tiruporur, 
2. Chengalpattu, 
3. Kancheepuram, 
4. Arcot, 
5. Polur, 
6. Jolarpet, 
7. Gingee, 
8. Mailam, 
9. Neyveli, 
10. Mettur, 
11. Omalur, 
12. Edappadi, 
13. Bhavani, 
14. Dharmapuri, 
15. Poompuhar, 
16. Dindigul, 
17. Alangudi, 
18. Maduravoyal, 
19. Anaikattu, 
20. Jayamkondan, 
21. Bargur, 
22. Velachery, 
23. Gummidipoondi, 
24. Bhuvanagiri, 
25. Kovilpatti, 
26. Tindivanam (SC), 
27. Sholavandan (SC), 
28. Vedaranyam, 
29. Paramathivelur 
30. Palacode. 

This time, the PMK has been given a few constituencies in the south such as Dindigul and Sholavandan.
 

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