Keen contest likely in South Chennai among AIADMK, DMK, BJP

, Mar 26: A keen contest is in the offing in Chennai South where

and BJP have put up formidable candidates to wrest the seat from

, which is fielding a new face.

AIADMK denied ticket to sitting MP C Rajendran and instead nominated Jayavardhan, son of former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar, in this constituency, which is cosmopolitan in nature and known as the IT hub of the state.

BJP, which has for the first time formed a strong alliance of six parties, has fielded its former state unit chief L Ganesan, hoping to take advantage of the support base its allies enjoyed. Ganesan hails from the Brahmin community, which forms a sizeable population in Mylapore, one of the assembly segments, coming under the South Chennai constituency.

DMK refused to field R S Bharathy who lost in the 2009 polls and instead gave him a ticket to contest for the Alandur assembly bye-poll, for which voting takes place on April 24.

DMK has shifted its spokesman T K S Elangovan from Chennai North to South seat, hoping that he would fare well in the new constituency. South Chennai comprises Virugambakkam, Saidapet, T Nagar, Mylapore, Velachery, Sholinganallur, Tambaram parts of which fall under IT corridor (Old Mahabalipuram Road) and Triplicane with a total electorate strength of about 11.62 lakh.

Though the seat remained a strong hold of DMK, which had won eight times so far, AIADMK wrested it last time. Some of the major issues that have been in the news are water scarcity and security of women.

The ground water level has considerably reduced forcing many residents and IT companies to buy water from tanker lorries. Besides, safety of women working in IT companies in IT corridor has also come into sharp focus after the brutal murder and rape of an employee of a top IT company early this year.

PTI