Tamil Nadu : In Campaign Trail / Overwhelming enthusiasm in Coimbatore

Coimbatore in TamilNadu is a major industrial city where the 19th Party Congress of the CPI(M) was held in March/April last year. In the 15th Lok Sabha elections, Coimbatore is one of the seats allotted to the CPI(M) under the seat-sharing agreement with the AIADMK front which is with the Third Front.
Bordering Palghad district of Kerala, Coimbatore is a place with strong communist base for a long time. In 2004 Lok Sabha election, K.Subbarayan of the CPI was the winning candidate. This time comrade PR.Natarajan, Coimbatore district secretary and state committee member, is the CPI(M) candidate.
On the other hand the main opponent of the CPI(M) candidate is an industrialist R.Prabu nominated by the Congress. He has shifted from his sitting seat of The Nilgris constituency, where DMK's union minister for communications A.Raja is contesting on behalf of UPA. The Congress candidate is allegedly involved in an Rs.250 Cr. scam for loan his Andhra based sugar factory obtained from Bank of India branch in East Godhavari district in AP.
Com.PR.Natarajan's candidature has aroused lot of enthusiasm among the public in general and the party cadres and supporters in particular. Ever since his name was announced for contesting the poll, the entire party has swung into action to campaign for Com PR.Natarajan of 59 years old. The other partners of the third front viz. AIADMK, CPI, PMK, MDMK are fully vigorously working for the CPI(M) candidate.
The leading activists of these parties have been focusing on door-to-door campaign in small batches. Few days ago some 15 activists belonging to the Front parties visited the villages Ugaranur and Thongulipalayam gram panchayat. People enthusiastically expressed support for the CPI(M) candidate. The support was overwhelmingly in Dalit areas. As the door-to-door campaign progressed, two or three persons from each house joined the campaign squad that began with 15 activists swelled into a squad of 150 persons, looking like a procession.
The kind of enthusiastic support for the CPI(M) candidate has given further inspiration to the activists of the Front parties heralding the victory of com.PR.Natarajan.
- R.Ramaraj