Septuagenarian AAP candidate raring to go in Erode LS constituency

"Youths, particularly first-time voters, and the section of elders disgusted with the two main Dravidian parties would naturally vote for AAP"

K.K. Kumarasamy

Having practised nature farming for decades, 73-year-old K.K. Kumarasamy, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate for Erode Lok Sabha seat, the oldest among the nine party candidates fielded in nine constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, has set his vision on combating pollution and improving sanitation.

Village

Mr. Kumarasamy, who hails from Kallipatti village in Gobichettipalayam taluk, had taken to farming soon after he graduated in engineering from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology.

Youths, particularly first-time voters, and the section of elders disgusted with the two main Dravidian parties would naturally vote for AAP, Mr. Kumarasamy said.

Since both agriculture and textile sector have to be safeguarded, the party would strive to get a Common Effluent Treatment Plant installed.

Priority

Improving sanitary facilities in primary health centres and schools will also be accorded high priority by AAP, he said.

The party, he said, has roped in 300 full-time volunteers to undertake door-to-door campaign, and tap into the segments of the citizens who do not come to the polling booths.

Students

The volunteers, mostly college-going students and those who had completed their studies in the recent years, would carry out door-to-door campaign on foot and bicycles, Mr. Kumarasamy, son of freedom fighter, Kuppusamy Gounder, said.

AAP Erode District Coordinator K.N. Karthikeyan said 50,000 members have already been enrolled through online campaign and that the party has 10 per cent vote share in the Erode Lok Sabha constituency.