Debutants seek place in history from South Chennai LS seat

South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency has an illustrious history - it has returned greats like former President R Venkatraman and DMK founder C N Annadurai among others to Parliament.     

Now debutants too are seeking a place in history from this seat, which has become a DMK bastion. Former union finance minister T T Krishnamachari, actress Vyjayanthimala Bali and DMK's Murasoli Maran have also represented this seat in Parliament.     

With a voter base of 11.5 lakh, this seat will now see a contest among DMK's long-serving Alandur Chairman R S Barathy, BJP state unit president L Ganesan and AIADMK's realtor 'Chitlapakkam' S Rajendran.    

In 2004, sitting MP and Union Shipping Minister TR Baalu, the party's candidate for the nearby Sriperumbudur seat, trounced his AIADMK rival and incumbent Triplicane MLA Badar Saeed by a margin of around 2.2 lakh votes, stamping the DMK's supremacy in the constituency.    

However, of the six Assembly constituencies presently under the Lok Sabha seat-- Thyagaraya Nagar, Saidapet, Triplicane, Mylapore, Tambaram and Alandur-- DMK represents only the last two, with its archrival AIADMK making inroads into these DMK strongholds in the 2006 Assembly elections.    

Having ceded a large chunk of geographical area to Sriperumbudur post delimitation including Tambaram and Alandur, parts of South Chennai's skyline is dotted with some of the big IT firms in the IT Corridor.

DMK's Barathy was instrumental in raking up the alleged TANSI land scam case against AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.     

Issues like unemployment, especially among IT professionals, water scarcity and power cuts roads are highlighted by the AIADMK and the BJP during election rallies.     

However, Barathy, Legal wing secretary of the DMK, refers to the party's attractive schemes such as the one kg rice for Re one and the free television for poor during his meetings, besides development programmes initiated during his 20-year long stint as Chairman of the Alandur municipality.     

On the other hand, the BJP said it is targeting the 'reluctant voters' and expressed confidence to emerge victorious. Besides the major political parties, persons who intend to "make a difference," are also trying their luck.

Successful entrepreneur and MTV Youth Icon 2008, E Sarath Babu and chemical engineer 'Gandhian' N Venkataraman are preparing to take the political heavyweights head-on.