Chennai: Not many politicians would phrase a poll promise as “Dharmika Commitment” unless you happen to be DMK's T Nagar constituency candidate Dr N.S. Kanimozhi.
Interacting with representatives of the T Nagar residents welfare association at Rangan street on Sunday, Kanimozhi is all ears as the voters presented her with grievances, chief among them being the issue of unauthorised commercial buildings in T Nagar.
"They [illegal building owners] are the real peruchaazhis (bandicoot rat) and they will be taken care of. If an incident like the one in Kumbakonam (fire accident) happens here, then whole T Nagar will be gone. So, it is my Dharmika commitment to T Nagar people that these building owners will be taken for a ride," she asserted.
Daughter of late former minister of state for defence, N.V.N Somu, and the grandchild of DMK founding member N.V. Natarajan, the 42-year-old gynaecologist-cum-politician Kanimozhi, is not one bit apprehensive about taking sides.
"Why should I not side with the residents if they elect me as an MLA?," she asked. Assuring voters that, if elected, she will facilitate the formation of a grievance redressal team, consisting a local citizen representative in it, she said that she will shift her residence from Kilpauk to T Nagar in order to be able to meet her constituency people at least three times a month.
When it was put to her by residents that the DMK does not have a great standing among locals, alluding to the fact that T Nagar has elected AIADMK candidates thrice in the last 25 years, Kanimozhi said that she does not want to do good for her constituency because she is elected an MLA.
“I have a relative who lives here and who tells me all the time about the difficulties living in T Nagar. I can connect with what the voters are telling me," she said.
When a resident interrupted her saying, "This is what the current MLA Kalairajan (of the AIADMK) also told us...", she responded that "this time, it is different."
"Annan Stalin has pushed educated people like me for a reason. He doesn't believe in last generation politics which is why he himself doesn't have old timers around him," said Kanimozhi, who was accompanied by her husband Siva Subramanian.
Besides BJP's H. Raja and AIADMK's Sathyanarayana, Kanimozhi also has to fight another rival in NOTA, which the T Nagar residents welfare association have been asking its members to vote for, to express their disapproval of all political parties. Despite these odds, if she is elected to power, will she still side with residents, especially when resistance from external factors mount, asked residents. “You know who my father was. I have his gene. I won't back down under any circumstances,” she signed off.
