Lobbying gains pace as race for mayor post speeds up in Coimbatore

Coimbatore: The drama of the state assembly election may be behind us, but the return to normalcy will not last long as the race for the post of mayor and councillors has just begun.
An official announcement on the date of local body elections in the state is yet to be made, but political functionaries have started making their moves to grab tickets for the posts hoping that the polls might be conducted in the next three months.Riding on the wave of successive victories in Coimbatore in the local body, Parliamentary and assembly elections, AIADMK men say that rather than winning the polls, their real challenge will be to get tickets from the party high command to contest in the elections.
As a result, hectic lobbying has begun among AIADMK men to grab a ticket to contest for the coveted mayor's post. While sitting mayor P Rajkumar hopes to get the ticket once again, former mayor S M Velusamy, former minister P V Damodaran, deputy mayor Leelavathi Unni and a few more prominent AIADMK men, who were denied tickets during the assembly election, are hoping to make a come back.
Party functionaries are making a beeline to the house of a regional satrap of AIADMK who is known to call the shots in Coimbatore. Most of the candidates fielded in the assembly elections were his supporters. So they are approaching him to get tickets to contest for councillor's post. As for seniors eyeing the mayor's post, they have approached the regional heavyweight seeking his support even as they attempt to establish alternative channels to reach the high command,'' said a party functionary.
AIADMK men are tightlipped about deliberations in the party about local body elections, but speculate that party high command might throw a surprise by fielding an unexpected candidate. "We won nine out of ten segments in Coimbatore. But our vote share has come down. Besides there were also frequent complaints about pending projects in Coimbatore. So there could be surprises in candidate selection to offset these factors,'' said a functionary from western Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, In DMK too, Arivayalam's backdoors are being knocked to get into the fray. While reasons were touted for the drubbing in the assembly poll for DMK, senior functionaries feel that candidate selection was a crucial factor. "In local body election, candidate selection will be even more meticulous,'' said a DMK leader.
However, Congress, a DMK ally,hopes to get the mayor's post. Congress has held the mayor's post in the past as an ally of DMK.