Candidates promise the moon

TRICHY: At the meet-the-candidate programme organized here on Saturday, all the candidates fighting from the Trichy Lok Sabha constituency came together on one platform. Individual candidates waxed eloquent as usual promising the moon for the public at the event organized by the Federation of Consumer Organizations.
The Federation's president M Sekaran later admitted that though it was an attempt to mentally prepare the voters to choose the 'right' candidate, the voters had little or no choice to zero in on the 'right' candidate.
The candidates who attended the programme were Congress' Charubala Thondaiman, CPM's Suresh, the party district secretary, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) P Ravi, and DMK's M Anbazhagan, the former deputy mayor of Trichy Corporation. DMDK's Thiruverumbur MLA Senthilkumar was deputed on behalf of its Trichy DMDK candidate AMG Vijayakumar. The AIADMK candidate could not make it to the function as he was not allegedly permitted by his bosses to mingle with the rest of the candidates.
Charubala set the ball in motion by raking up the Kamaraj legacy that it was in the latter's heyday that the BHEL was established in Trichy and it now gave employment to "lakhs of people." She said she had gained enough experience as a mayor of Trichy twice, and she would be pragmatic in solving the long-standing problems of the city.
CPM's Suresh said he had always worked for the people whether or not in power, but the MP's tag would give additional boost to his performance. He claimed that the Pallavan and Rock Fort expresses were finally brought on the right track thanks to his party's sustained fight. Senthilkumar, MLA, substituting for AMG Vijayakumar, who had polled some 60,000 votes in 2009 elections, said the people could knock at the candidate's door round the clock to get their problems solved.
True to the party's culture AAP candidate ruffled many a feather as he went overboard to criticize the rest of the parties. He said Kejriwal had brought about a political revolution in the nerve centre of Indian politics, Delhi, and he was trying to replicate the same across the country. Interestingly, AAP's P Ravi had contested on DMDK's ticket and as an independent in many elections in the past. As he started thrashing the CPM's 'bourgeois outlook', several CPM cadres lunged towards the podium to contain his tongue. His even said the CM Jayalalithaa was not performing the duty of even a councilor in Srirangam.
DMK's Anbazhagan appeared cool and composed and he said that he was assured of victory as AIADMK's Kumar had terribly failed to deliver, and it would be suicidal to send the non-performing MP to parliament again.