Choice adds to discontent in Congress, TMC

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, APRIL 23.The choice of candidates of the TMC-Congress combine has only added to the discontent among the cadres who are already bitter over the seats-allotment by the AIADMK.

For, the TMC and the Congress, which were given a good share of `difficult' seats, have attempted to appease seniors and faction leaders in most constituencies, rather than field ``native nominees''.

Particularly, the TMC, which is contesting 31 constituencies leaving one for the RPI, has rehabilitated party seniors and functionaries in their ``unfamiliar turf'', triggering a surge of dissatisfaction among the district units.

The general secretary, Mr.K. Kandasamy, who is based in Salem, has been fielded in far-off Coonoor (reserved), and the Coimbatore president, Mr. Kovai Thangam, is trying his luck in Valparai.

The former Union Minister, Mr.S.R. Balasubramanaian, whose Pongalur seat was denied in the allocation by the AIADMK, has been accommodated in a not-so-familiar Thondamuthur.

And, the party's propaganda secretary, Mr.M.A.Hakeem, is a little-known face in Madurai Central. Similarly, the student wing president, Mr. Vidiyal Sekar, a resident of Erode, is taking on the DMK heavyweight, Mr.M.K. Stalin, in Thousand Lights in Chennai.

Ironically, the Chidambaram MLA, Mr.K.S. Alagiri, whose home constituency was taken away by the AIADMK, was not given the Tambaram seat in suburban Chennai, because he was a ``rank outsider'' there. ``No norms were followed in seats allocation. While Mr.Alagiri, one of the better-known faces and effective orators in the party, is denied ticket, seniors have been fielded in constituencies where they are total strangers,'' fumes a senior functionary.

As for the Congress, it appears to have adopted a `faction quota' system to select candidates rather than choose heavyweights. The most curious case is the party's decision to `import' a candidate based in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai MP, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer's personal secretary, Mr.S. Rajkumar, for the Triplicane seat in Chennai.

In the key constituency of Chepauk here, where the Chief Minister, Mr.M. Karunanidhi, contests, the Congress is not even putting up a semblance of fight. It has fielded a loyalist of the former TNCC president, Mr.K.V. Thangabalu, and little- known face, Mr.R. Damodaran.

The party has fielded new faces in almost all of its 14 constituencies barring Sriperumbudur, Udhagamandalam and Chengam where the former MLAs, Mrs.D. Yasodha, Mr. Polur Varadan and Mr.H.M. Raju, have been fielded.

And, adding to the muddle and delay in candidates selection, the two parties are yet to oil their campaign machinery and hit the hustings. But the TMC MP and the party's key campaigner, Mr.Peter Alphonse, claims that ``the party's campaigning will begin in full swing in the next two days, once the cadres reconcile themselves to the seats allocation and the ground realities''.

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Section  : Southern States
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