Lok Paritran, which is contesting seven seats in Tamil Nadu, wants to bring in educated people into politics.
CHENNAI: It claims to be a party with a difference. And going by its initial moves, it seems to be living up to its self anointed billing. Lok Paritran, a party recently founded by a bunch of educated youngsters including IITians, is taking on the might of the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu.
One instances is Mylapore, where the party candidate Santhanagopalan Vasudev is pitted against actors S Ve Sekar (AIADMK) and Napolean (DMK), former IAS officer Chandralekha of the BJP and Congress rebel ‘America’ V Narayanan.
A doctorate holder in economics from New York University, Vasudev is banking on votes that were not cast last time.
Explains LP state general secretary L Hemachandran: “Only 48 per cent of the electorate voted in the 2001 polls. We have found that 37.5 per cent did not vote because there was no alternative to the existing parties. Another 10 per cent voted for the better among the worse. We will get these votes and the new votes.”
Though Lok Paritran is contesting in seven seats, it seems to be concentrating its maximum energy on Mylapore.
The party’s manifesto promises transparency and eradication of corruption. Though Lok Paritran’s positioning may look unrealistic in the cut and thrust world of politics, there are takers. Consider Surya, a doctor residing in the US.
He read about Lok Paritran on the Internet and has come down to cast his first vote for the party.
In Anna Nagar, where Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Arcot N Veerasamy is locking horns with the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate Vijaya Thayamban, Lok Paritran has put up Rajamany, an engineer as its candidate promising a government sans red-tapism.
“When these educated people have turned down lucrative jobs to enter politics, their promise to clean up the system sounds legitimate,” says Sethuraman, a senior citizen of Anna Nagar. When it comes to election results, Lok Paritran national president Tanmay Rajpurohit does not have high hopes. “Even if we lose, we will carry on with our work. This is just a beginning.”
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