Lok Sabha polls: DMK leader T R Baalu faces tough contest on home turf Thanjavur

THANJAVUR: Braving all odds including factionalism in the party, former Union minister and DMK leader T R Baalu is struggling to carve out victory from his home turf Thanjavur.
Baalu's venture of shifting from Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha constituency to Tanjavur has not gone down well among a section of DMK leaders including its sitting MP S S Palanimanickam camp.

There was also resentment sweeping among a section of people against Baalu over implementation of the methance extraction project, which was shelved in the wake of opposition from locals who argued that it would turn the fertile lands in this "rice bowl of Tamil Nadu" into a barren zone.

With both DMK and AIADMK having shown the door to erstwhile allies--Congress and CPI(M), the national parties have fielded their candidates, which would certainly have impact on the two Dravidian parties.

With BJP jumping into the fray, a five-cornered contest has ensued, although the direct fight seems to be between Baalu and his AIADMK rival, K Parasuraman who is perceived to be a relatively lesser known face here.

The emotive Cauvery stand-off issue apart, Thanjavur faces challenges in agriculture, including lack of proper employment to farm labourers besides complaints that even UPA's flagship employment guarantee scheme, MNREGA, was not being implemented properly.

Riding on the 'son-of-the-soil' tag, Baalu successfully lobbied with the DMK high command to shift to his home turf from Sriperumbudur, much to the chargin of Palanimanickam, resulting in burning of the former's effigies.

However, the two former Union Ministers patched up later, and are putting up a united show, with both camps denying any rift. Baalu, presently Sriperumbudur MP, said those who had protested could be AIADMK men in the guise of DMK supporters.

Baalu's rivals including AIADMK and CPI(M) charge him with being instrumental in bringing the methane extraction project, which has earned the ire of local farmers over fears it would affect agriculture and has become a major poll plank in the delta districts.

AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has charged Baalu with trying to bring the Coal Bed Methane project, saying it "would have turned the fertile rice bowl lands into barren ones".

CPI(M), whose party nominee Tamil Selvi said she was confident of winning the election, is also taking on Baalu over the project.

"This besides factionalism in DMK is a setback to him," the campaign managers of Tamilselvi said.

However, Baalu brushes aside the charges, saying he is well aware of the environmental impact of the project and that his party "opposes" it.

"This has been mentioned in our party manifesto itself," the DMK Parliamentary Party leader and a key member of the party's manifesto drafting committee said.

He is banking on his achievements in his capacity as Minister handling various portfolios at different points of time, besides his current stint as Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways.

His son and Mannargudi MLA, T R B Raja, told PTI the region has got 11 train services in the last two years, thanks to his father's efforts.

Baalu is confident of another victory by virtue of his many infrastructure projects like Thanjavur-Tiruchirappalli four-lane highway, a slew of Road Over and Road Under Bridges and the Rs 2000-crore odd Sethusamudram project which DMK claims will benefit the entire southern Tamil Nadu.

AIADMK is fighting the polls on the three-year achievements of the Jayalalithaa government, including getting the 2007 final award of the Cauvery Tribunal, notified in a central gazette.

Three of the six Assembly segments in this constituency-- Thiruvaiyaru, Thanjavur and Orathanadu-- have AIADMK MLAs while Peravurani's DMDK MLA C Arun Pandian has already switched his loyalty to the ruling party.

Congress (Pattukottai) and DMK (Mannargudi) have a legislator each.

A total of 13.10 lakh voters will decide the fate of the candidates, including Congress' T Krishnaswamy Vandayar, whose party is facing the polls on its own nearly after a decade in the absence of an ally.