ERODE: Neither a popular politician nor a seasoned player, yet Malliga Paramasivam called the shots in Erode Corporation elections. She was ahead in all the 60 wards of the corporation right from the beginning of the counting process. By the time the final results were out, she had 1.05 lakh votes of the 2.25 lakh polled.Soon after she was announced winner, a jubilant Paramasivam said, “I will visit all the wards along with the respective councillors to sort out public grievances.” She won by a margin of 46,140 votes over DMK’s Sellaponni Manoharan, the party’s district deputy secretary and daughter of former Erode municipal chairman S Arangarajan. In fact, Arangarajan had held the post for 10 years. The winner, Paramasivam was well supported by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who campaigned for her and Public Works Department Minister K V Ramalingam. Talking to reporters, she said she had taken note of the problems that the area faced during the poll campaign itself. Roads, water supply, streetlights and public toilet facilities were in shambles in most of the wards. These problems were more pronounced in the newly annexed local bodies, she added. “My top priority is to improve basic amenities. People expect good roads, water, streetlights and toilet facilities,” she said. To a query, Paramasivam said public should be sensitised on keeping their environment clean. “If they put garbage in the bins assigned for the purpose, the entire area will remain clean. They must look at their streets as their own and keep it neat and tidy just like their houses,” she said. Paramasivam, who is also the AIADMK women’s wing secretary of Erode town, added that the wing members would campaign for the cause. On her plans for the civic body, she said, “It will be announced after consulting with the elected council.”Paramasivam also spoke on the long-pending requirements such as protected water supply from Urachikottai and a flyover near MGR statue. Noting that the chief minister herself had made these assurances during her campaign in Erode, she assured action in this regard. “I will also try to implement all State government schemes and try to bring in more developmental schemes for Erode,” she promised.Blame GameNot all were happy with the way things went. DMK District Youth Wing Organiser P K Palanisamy even alleged that the AIADMK offered money to voters. “This is one of the reasons why they managed to pull such a huge poll margin,” he said. Reacting to this, Malliga Paramasivam said, “Only the DMK candidates spent money for such things and not the AIADMK.” On the victory of 11 independents in the council, she said most of them were rebel AIADMK candidates and efforts were on to bring them back to the AIADMK fold. To a query on whether the AIADMK’s percentage of votes in the present poll was on a par with Assembly poll victory, she said the party got more votes this time.
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