Sivaganga all set for a nail biting poll finish

All eyes will be on Sivaganga in southern Tamil Nadu where Congress nominee Karti Chidambaram will battle it out in a triangular contest in the Lok Sabha seat held by his father P Chidambaram seven times since 1984.

A nail biting finish is in the offing in view of the tough contest among Karti, BJP national secretary H Raja and the candidate of TTV Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).

Mukkulathor and Mutharaiyar, a backward caste community, Nagarathar and the Scheduled Castes make up the main caste composition.

Apart from them, Muslims and Christians are also among the electorate spread across the vast constituency falling under Sivaganga and Pudukottai districts.

A visit to a number of villages in the constituency revealed that a section of Mukkulathor, the traditional supporters of the AIADMK was oscillating in its choice between the ruling AIADMK's ally BJP and rival AMMK.

AIADMK top leader O Panneerselvam, AMMK leader Dhinakaran and his party candidate Therpogi V Pandi belong to the Mukkulathor community.

Also, with several AIADMK cadres at the local level now siding with AMMK, it has virtually widened the scope for a split in the anti-DMK and anti-Congress votes.

Both the Congress and BJP bank on their Dravidian allies' organisational strength to win the seat. DMK and AIADMK has alliance with Congress and BJP respectively.

Requesting anonymity, some Congress workers rued that the Sivaganga Lok Sabha ticket has been repeatedly going to one family for about 30 years, a reference to the hold of Chidambaram on the seat from 1984.

The 47-year old Karti, who is facing corruption cases, is currently on bail. He has been maintaining that the cases were politically motivated.

On the other hand, Raja is perceived as accessible and well known.

A local, whose view of supported by many, in Karaikudi said: "Raja is accecssible, well known, but infamous for courting controversies."
Also, Chidambaram had been a Central Minister for several years and held various portfolios. Considering such aspects, no big ticket project really useful for the local people were brought for our region."
Local youth like C Nagarajan and others alleged the BHEL unit does not give adequate opportunities to the local youth and a "large number of employees are from other states."
On the accusation against him by his rivals and some locals that he was not accessible, Karti replied "how have you now accessed me...? this is Goebbels propaganda... there is no truth in it."