AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa sitting pretty in RK Nagar

On a hot evening in the dusty lanes at Korukupet in North Chennai, a loudpeaker fitted autorickshaw criss-crosses the neighbourhood, blaring out welfare schemes of AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, seeking re-election from her Dr Radha Krishnan Nagar constituency.
"See the slum clearance board tenements at Power Kuppam and Ranganathapuram, Meenambal Nagar overbridge, the concrete roads, tar topped roads, Amma Kudineer (drinking water) Centre..." loudspeakers fill the air with AIADMK propaganda in this heavily congested, largely downscale area.
The "achievements" of Jayalalithaa for the rest of Tamil Nadu also finds mention without fail.
Moving into interior neighbourhoods like VOC Nagar in Tondiarpet, New Washermenpet and Royapuram, one finds several mini-buses, an initiative of the AIADMK regime, negotiating busy markets and residential areas on clean cement and tar topped roads.

Though the ruling party has boasted of various welfare schemes, residents aired a slew of grievances when this correspondent visited the constituency.
"Our area fills with columns of smoke the moment garbage is burnt at nearby Kodungayur dumpyard," says N Sathyaraj, a long time resident of Netaji Nagar. He also alleged that several residents had respiratory problems due to it.

Authorities, however, denied the charge saying that, "If at all burning happened" in the dumpyard it was the handiwork of miscreants, for which action had already been taken.
Sathyaraj rued that many schemes intended especially for the weaker sections had not reached them. "This is mainly a lower and middle class area. Strangely, we do not know why schemes like Amma Pharmacy and farm fresh outlets have not been opened up here."

He said trucks selling farm fresh vegetables also do not visit their areas.
A fish vendor, Desapattu in VOC Nagar fish market shows overflowing sewage in the market. "This is the constituency of our Chief Minister... You take a look for yourself. I do not want to comment anything."
The market does not have proper facilities for both vendors and public, he claimed.
Loganathan refers to a host of issues like alleged
clogged storm water drains, underground drainage and absence of a playground for children.
"Children need to go to railway land near Ezhil Nagar for playing. On rainy days even that option is shut."

He also referred to the 'long-standing problem' in the area-- with many State slum clearance board tenements-- of people finding it impossible to get a tenement they buy transferred in their names.
"Though people paid money to buy property, they could not assert their right over it or use it for collateral purposes in banks," he said.
"When the AIADMK chief herself won from here we expected solutions to long-term problems like this," he said.
Asked about these, authorities declined to comment referring to the Model Code vis-a-vis the May 16 elections.
K Vijayakumari, another resident, however, said, "it is not even a year since Jayalalithaa was elected. Already, she has given the area several new amenities like a college and new classrooms in corporation schools. I hope she will do more if she is given another opportunity."

Several other residents too had their own share of grievances, mostly on civic and traffic issues.
Citing the movement of heavy vehicles like trucks and container lorries to facilities like the IOC terminal, BPCL lube plant and Chennai Port, they demanded that their movement be regulated more or stopped.
"Day in and out we see mishaps owing to truck movement... since this constituency is represented by Amma, we expected quick solutions," a resident of Elaya Street said.
Though residents poured out grievances, they did mention that their area "shot to fame" across the state as Jayalalithaa's constituency, nudging officials to pay more attention.

There are plenty of voices in support of Jayalalithaa too, especially among women voters.
A Shantha and her husband S Antony Muthu, small time traders on Ennore High Road, listed infrastructure projects and amenities like a modernised fishing harbour, new slum clearance board tenements, a railway over bridge and Amma Kudineer (Drinking water) Centre.
"We hope she will do more when she comes back to power," they said. However, they expressed dismay that Jayalalithaa was not undertaking a door-to-door campaign.
(REOPENS MDS2)
While Shimla Muthu Chozhan is the DMK candidate, former Manonmaniam Sundaranar University vice-chancellor Vasanthi Devi is the nominee of VCK, which is fighting the polls as a constituent of DMDK, People's Welfare Front, TMC combine.

One of the smaller constituencies in Tamil Nadu, RK Nagar has more women voters (97,806) than men (97,340). The total number of voters was 1,95,179 before the summary revision of electoral rolls was done this year.The revised data, according to authorities, is being collated and will be available soon.
In the 2011 Assembly elections, P Vetrivel of AIADMK won by a good margin of 31,255, defeating P K Sekarbabu of DMK in RK Nagar. He resigned in 2015 following which Jayalalithaa contested from the constituency in the bypoll.
Jayalalithaa had won from Srirangam constituency in 2011. However, she was disqualified as an MLA following her conviction by a trial court in Bengaluru in a disproportionate assets case in 2014.

She returned as Chief Minister on May 23, 2015 after being acquitted by the Karnataka High Court in the case.
In the June 2015 RK Nagar bypoll, Jayalalithaa recorded an impressive victory winning by a huge margin of 1,50,722 votes, trouncing her nearest CPI rival C Mahendran who forfeited his deposit like the other contestants.
Jayalalitha had earlier this year said the people of her RK Nagar constituency are forever etched in her heart.