NAGERCOIL: The vibrant shade of saffron descended on this quaint sea-side cape on Sunday, colouring the electoral ground with the same hue as the mild morning sun, when Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, flew down to engage with the people of the district.
Campaigning for Pon Radhakrishnan, the BJP candidate for Lok Sabha by-election, Shah’s rally became a spectacular road show at Nagercoil in the district. He travelled in an open jeep, waving to the delirious crowd, amid cries of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Vetrivel Veeravel”, the latter being dedicated to the Tamil deity, Lord Muruga, all along appealing to the people to “send Ponnar (Pon Radhakrishnan) to Delhi”.
Kanniyakumari residents’ celebrations reached a feverish pitch when Shah reached the district, all the way from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala to launch BJP’s ‘Vetri Kodi Eandhi Velvom’ campaign. During the campaign, which saw the participation of tens of scores of people, Shah exuded confidence that the NDA alliance of AIADMK-BJP-PMK would form the next government.
As part of this campaign, Shah visited 11 houses in Suchindram along with Pon Radhakrishnan and BJP State chief L Murugan and distributed pamphlets featuring the commitments and policies of the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Claiming that a win for Pon Radhakrishnan would strengthen the voice of TN in Parliament, Shah said Delhi needed a leader like him and urged the people to elect him in the upcoming LS by-election in Kanniyakumari.
EPS, OPS discuss candidate selection
Chennai: AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday discussed with office bearers on selection of candidates at party headquarters.
“The party has identified constituencies for fielding members,” sources said. The BJP, PMK and DMDK have asked for seats held by the AIADMK, which has said that no seat held by an incumbent minister will be released.
EC appoints two expenditure observers
Chennai: To ensure a fair and free election, the Election Commission has appointed retired IT officials Madhu Mahajan and Balakrishnan as expenditure observers. They will monitor expenses of political parties and candidates from Monday.