Chennai: It will be a clash of titans at Kolathur, a newly-carved constituency in the city, where senior DMK leader and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin will square off with AIADMK`s Saidai Duraiswamy, a blue-eyed boy of
the late MGR.
It will be interesting to see who will represent the
constituency as its first MLA in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Stalin chose the seat, a segment of North Chennai Lok
Sabha constituency, as it had given DMK`s T K S Elangovan a
lead of over 25,000 votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Being a
compact constituency Stalin can campaign easily and
concentrate on other seats in the state.
Since 1984 Stalin has been contesting from Thousand
Lights constituency which has the maximum number of Muslim
votes while Saidai Duraisamy had represented Saidapet once.
With just 10 days for the polls, campaigning is mostly
door-to-door.
While M K Stalin has assured voters that
infrastructure in the locality would be developed, Duraiswamy
has been seeking votes on the basis of his party`s
`achievements`.
Stalin accompanied by a host of DMK workers addressed
several meetings while Duraiswamy`s campaign was led by DMDK
founder chief Vijaykanth, whose party is an AIADMK ally.
"Though fondly known as `Saidai` Duraiswamy (for
contesting from Saidapet, he should be called `Kolathur`
Duraiswamy from now on," Vijaykanth had said while seeking
votes.
Besides `Saidai` Duraiswamy is also known for his
Manithaneyam IAS and IPS Centre run by Manithaneyam Charitable
Trust which offers free IAS and IPS coaching.
Areas that come under Kolathur Assembly constituency
include Vajjravel Nagar, Vinayagapuram, Perambur, Puzhal,
Jawahar Nagar, Sakthivel Nagar, Villivakkam and Periyar Nagar.
The locality is also famous for sale of ornamental
fish. The constituency has 1.98 lakh voters, with an equal
number of male and female voters.
According to the Election Commission`s website,
Kolathur, along with nearby localities -- Poniammanmedu,
Malligai Avenue, Thiruvalluvar Nagar, Balaji Nagar, Tirupati
Nagar, Sri Vel Murugan Nagar, Valarmathi Nagar, United Colony
Main Road, Agadheswarar Nagar, Ganaga Nagar, Selliamman Nagar
-- come under Division 62.
Peravallur (Ward No 50), GKM Colony, Jawahar Nagar,
Vetri Nagar, Paper Mills road, Periyar Nagar, Sembium (Ward No
51), Gopalapuram, Anbazhagan Nagar, Janakiram Nagar, Perambur
(Ward No 52), Somasundaram Vinayagar Koil Street, Ayanavaram
Ward No 53, Chitharanjan Colony (Ward No 54) also come under
Kolathur.
PTI
