Mayoral candidate C. Padmanabhan is confident of doing well in the polls
CPM mayor candidate Padhmanaban with his family members in Coimbatore on Saturday. (Photo: DC)
Coimbatore: He savours Marx as much as the Mahabharata. Marxist mayoral candidate C. Padmanabhan is reading the Mahabharata for the second time. After sipping his morning coffee and sharing some thoughts with his wife Manonmani, son Azad and daughter Mathivathani on what the various newspapers have said, he sets off for the campaign.“I am confident though I am pitted against the stronger AIADMK and BJP,” says the three-time councillor of the city corporation. His long stint as a ward councillor shows how popular Padmanabhan, 56, has been in his Hopes neighbourhood.
If elected, he will “work on a war-footing” to improve drinking water supply and public transport, says Padmanabhan, a former member of the Coimbatore district planning committee. “My grandparents and parents were textile mill workers; so I was raised in an environment steeped in agitations for labour rights, better wages and equality in society. Participating in those protests became my routine,” says Padmanabhan, a Communist since his teens.
His son Azad, a metallurgy engineering student, insists that he is not interested in politics, despite his Left legacy. “Appa's simplicity and honesty inspire me; no politics in that,” says the young lad. Daughter Mathivathani, a BDS student, says that she is inspired by her father and joined the Marxist students movement, the SFI.
Padmanabhan's wife Manonmani works as a record clerk in the state industries department. “As a voter, I expect that the mayor will ensure regular drinking water supply to all households,” she says, setting the top priority item for the new mayor. Does she expect comrade Padmanabhan to make it? “Our people are not yet that mature,” she replies.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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