Campaign draws north leaders to TN and Pondy

By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai

Chennai, 12 May, (Asiantribune.com): Campaigning for the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections has come to end at 5 p.m. on May 11. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry goes to polls for 40 seats on May 13. As electioneering neared the end, there were last minute high-voltage canvassing by the leaders of various political parties, who were leaving no stones unturned.

Last few days saw, a lot of national leaders dashing in to Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu for campaigning. For AICC President Sonia Gandhi, it was a destination Chennai on Sunday, who appeared with Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi at the Island Grounds, canvassing for UPA alliance candidates.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa was winding up her 20-day poll campaign at Shenoy Nagar in Chennai. On Saturday, Dr. Manmohan Singh flew in here to see the ailing Chief Minister Karunanidhi and got him ready for the public rally the next day with Sonia Gandhi. The PM also addressed a press meet.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi canvassed for P. Chidambaram at Sivaganga and for Ms. Sarubala Thondaman in Tiruchi. Senior BJP leader Vengaiah Naidu came to the city for the last day canvassing, after visits to Coimbatore, Pollachi, Trruchi.

Former BJP leader Uma Bharati descended in on Chennai to campaign for L.Ganesan in South Chennai constituency. Ms. Uma Bharati, president of Bharatiya Janshakti, who sank her difference with the BJP and agreed to campaign for the saffron party, has said that the BJP would form the government.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at Nagercoil supporting the BJP candidate Pon. Radhakrishnan. Communist leaders Prakasah Karat, A.B. Bharadan, Yechuri had their brief stint in the state garnering votes. L.K.Advani, the BJP leader did his rounds in the state.

But none of the South leaders, or even the union Ministers of Tamil Nadu, have made such a campaign stint in the northern states. Even within the state, all of them are locked in their own constituencies. Jayalalithaa heli-hopped and campaigned in all the 40 constituencies. Local administration Minister Stalin did his travel on roads, covering all the areas, in the absence of CM Karunanidhi who was bed-ridden in the last phase of electioneering. Captain Vijayakanth and his wife Premalatha did a roaring campaign on wheels.

- Asian Tribune -