Why did Congress lose in Kongu region ..?
The Lok Sabha election results proved right the projections made earlier that all the four DMK-front Congress candidates in the Kongu region — K V Thangkabalu (Salem), R Prabhu (Coimbatore), S K Karvendan (Tirupur) and E V K S Elangovan (Erode) — would be voted out.There have been several factors, including faction feuds and Eelam issue, which led to the downfall of Congress in the region.However, the newly formed Kongu Nadu Munnetra Peravai (KNMP) that made its debut here played the community card by garnering sizeable votes.While change of constituencies by Congress candidates Elangovan, Prabhu and Karvendan has been attributed as the main cause of their defeat, in the case of Elangovan, film director Bharathiraja’s campaign against him is said to have helped Ganesamurthy.
In Erode, MDMK candidate Ganesamurthy defeated Elangovan by a margin of over 49,000 votes.Ganesamurthy was said to have won the sympathy of since
since he was arrested under POTA and jailed for over 500 days for the Lankan Tamil cause. Moreover, Elangovan as Gobichettipalayam MP failed to do help the textile sector.Karvendan, who lost to AIADMK candidate C Sivasamy contesting in Tirupur, was an outsider but as Palani MP he had the uni que distinction of raising over 1,000 questions in Parliament. Sivasamy won the hearts of the electorate for his good work as an MLA. He won by a margin of over 85,000 votes.
Prabhu, who was a fivetime MP in Nilgiris, had to switch his constituency to his hometown Coimbatore after Nilgiris became a reserve constituency.Factionalism in party played spoilsport for him with Vasan camp members distancing themselves from Prabhu.CPM candidate P R Natarajan defeated Prabhu by a margin of over 35,000 votes.Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief K V Thangkabalu, a sitting MP from Salem, failed to retain his seat due to factionalism in the party, the Sri Lakan issue and the toddy tapping issue.Former AIADMK minister Semmalai wrested the seat with a margin of over 46,000 votes.In Nilgiris, the KNMP candidate S Bhadiran garnered 32,779 votes while in Namakkal the KNMP candidate R Devaraj scored 52,433 votes.Undoubtedly, KNMP made its impact felt during this polls.
In Erode, MDMK candidate Ganesamurthy defeated Elangovan by a margin of over 49,000 votes.Ganesamurthy was said to have won the sympathy of since
Prabhu, who was a fivetime MP in Nilgiris, had to switch his constituency to his hometown Coimbatore after Nilgiris became a reserve constituency.Factionalism in party played spoilsport for him with Vasan camp members distancing themselves from Prabhu.CPM candidate P R Natarajan defeated Prabhu by a margin of over 35,000 votes.Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief K V Thangkabalu, a sitting MP from Salem, failed to retain his seat due to factionalism in the party, the Sri Lakan issue and the toddy tapping issue.Former AIADMK minister Semmalai wrested the seat with a margin of over 46,000 votes.In Nilgiris, the KNMP candidate S Bhadiran garnered 32,779 votes while in Namakkal the KNMP candidate R Devaraj scored 52,433 votes.Undoubtedly, KNMP made its impact felt during this polls.
