Chennai, March 4 (BPNS)
With the indirect election to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor candidates taking place on Friday, the DMK alliance has chosen people from diverse backgrounds as Mayors. While the DMK is contesting for 20 of the 21 corporations for the Mayor seat, the one seat left behind is given to its alliance partner Congress in Kumbakonam.
In Kumbakonam which is a newly formed corporation upgraded from municipality status, the Mayor candidate is an autorickshaw driver and Congress city unit president, K. Sarvanan (42).
He will become the first Mayor of the Kumbakonam corporation was upgraded into a corporation on December 20, 2021. Saravanan is a school dropout and educated only up to class VI and drives an auto for a living.
Saravanan while speaking to IANS said, “ The Congress party has given me a great honour in making me the Mayor. Will always be indebted to the party and the TNCC leadership for this. As usual, I will always be with the people and as a Mayor will intervene to wipe out the worries and tears of people and will be available 24X7 with the people of Kumbakonam and will try and make a change here.”
In Coimbatore where the DMK is wining the administration of the Corporation for the first time, the party has fielded a first-time councilor, Kalpana as the Mayor candidate which came as a surprise to many. Kalpana who comes from a very humble background went to meet M.K.Stalin on a bus to Chennai. The DMK spokesperson, Tamilan Prasanna while speaking to BPNS said, “ By choosing an ordinary person like Kalpana who comes from a humble background, our president M.K. Stalin has given a clear message that the party is with the poor and the downtrodden. However, our leader has made it a point that the candidates must be educated well enough and have good ideas for running a corporation.”
He said that the party president was keen that first-time councilors, educated people, and youngsters are given opportunities to groom the party to the next level in the coming years. He adds, “ Of the 35 DMK candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor post 30 are either graduates or Postgraduates”.
The party has also chosen a software professional for the Mayor’s post in Kancheepuram where it zeroed in on Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj. Mahalakshmi was a software engineer with the blue-chip company, Infosys and she quit the job and plunged into politics and party president chose her to be the Mayor of Kancheepuram corporation.
Mahalakshmi while speaking to BPNS said, “ It is a pleasant surprise that the party president Thiru M.K. Stalin has chosen me. I am a first-timer and will do my best to uplift the corporation to the next level with the support of my fellow corporators and the government of Tamil Nadu and opposition parties. “
The DMK also chose an Australian educated Post Graduate, N. Dinesh for the post of Mayor in Tiruppur. He is also a first-time councilor.
The first Mayor of Tambaram corporation which was upgraded into a corporation recently is 25 year old BTech Chemical Engineering graduate, Vasanthakumari Kamalakannan who is from a Dalit community. Interestingly, DMK has reserved the adjoin corporations of Chennai and Tambaram for Dalit women candidates.
Vasanthakumari while speaking to BPNS said, “ I am thankful to our leader Thiru M.K.Stalin for choosing me to the post of Tamabaram corporation Mayor. My first priority is to sort out the drinking water issues plaguing the corporation.”
