With two high-profile candidates — DMK women’s wing secretary Kanimozhi and BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan —locked in a prestigious battle in the Thoothukudi Parliamentary constituency, people hope that irrespective of who wins it might translate into development, especially at a time when the industrial outlook is in tatters.
Both have promised jobs by bringing in industries, expansion of the seaport and the airport, and setting up of storage facilities for agriculture and fisheries. To woo the Devendra Kula Vellalar community, both parties have promised that their demand to bring seven sub-castes under one fold would be fulfilled. Going a step ahead, Ms. Soundararajan has presented an ambitious constituency manifesto, with proposals for projects including a bullet train from Kanniyakumari to Chennai via Thoothukudi, which her rivals have criticised as being ‘far-fetched’.