While most of the Congress leaders had shied away from poll battle following the party’s total isolation in Tamil Nadu, Sarubala R Thondaiman, the party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections in Tiruchy has planned to use the elections as a testing ground for her party.
“Winning or losing is not important during a crisis, but to face the polls boldly is a must for any politician,” she said
The party’s isolation had made the functionaries of various factions work unitedly, she said. Sarubala R Thondaiman, wife of Raja Gopal Thondaiman of Pudukkottai Royal family contested the general election in 2009 in Tiruchy on Congress ticket and lost to AIADMK’s P Kumar.
Though congress aligned with the DMK in the then election, it is left with no friends at the moment. This forced several leaders to stay away. “It is the right time to face the election as it is a chance to prove our strength and by and large I will prove it”, says the visibly strong Sarubala.
“Now, I can have an easy access to our party workers and plan our campaign,” she said as though relieved of from being away from the DMK.
She claimed that there was no factional feud in the party and all were working for the success of candidate with more energy.
She charged that the Dravidian parties would always go behind the BJP and so Congress has its own minority vote bank intact. Besides, her performance as a Mayor of the city could ensure more votes.
“People know my administration well and they believe as an MP I could do several good things and they will opt for Congress in Tiruchy”, she stressed.
She denied that the presence of VR Karthick Thondaiman, another royal descendent of Pudukkottai and an AIADMK MLA would spoil her chances.
“The Pudukkottai people have a special affection towards the royal family members. Since I am contesting for the MP election, they would definitely vote for me”, she said.