Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) candidate for Tiruchi Lok Sabha constituency Sarubala R. Tondaiman launched her campaign in the city on Tuesday.
She began the campaign near the railway junction and went around the locality soliciting support from traders and street vendors.
She promised to work for the city’s development by bringing to fruition many of the pending projects, some of which were formulated during her tenure as mayor such as the establishment of an integrated bus stand.
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This is the third time that Ms. Tondaiman, married into the royal family of the erstwhile Pudukkottai princely state, is contesting the Lok Sabha election from the constituency. In 2009, contesting on the Congress ticket, she lost to AIADMK’s P. Kumar by a slender margin of about 4,000 votes. In 2014, she finished fourth with a tally of 51,537 votes. As mayor, she built a reputation for being an able administrator of the civic body. She quit the post midway during her second tenure to contest the Lok Sabha election in 2009.
A long-time loyalist of late G. K. Moopanar, who introduced her to active politics in 1998, Ms. Tondaiman threw her lot with G.K.Vasan when he revived the TMC in November 2014 and was made the Tiruchi urban district president of the party. However, she quit the party in August 2016 expressing unhappiness over Mr.Vasan’s “failure” to forge a strong alliance for the Assembly election. Later, she joined the AIADMK under former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and, subsequently, remained with the AMMK.
Ms.Tondaiman was the first to begin her campaign in the city. The Congress, which has been allotted the seat in the DMK alliance, is yet to announce its candidate for the seat, while the DMDK, in the AIADMK alliance, has nominated V. Elangovan as its candidate.
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