The CPI(M) state unit has decided to field sitting members P Mohan and A V Bellarmin from Madurai and Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seats respectively,and T R Natarajan from Coimbatore. The party announced the candidates names on Tuesday,a day after it sealed the seat-sharing pact with the AIADMK that gave it three seats. Though it had won both the seats it contested last time,the CPI(M) faces a formidable challenge this time,after finding itself pitched in tough battles in all the three seats. Mohan,who won from Madurai in 2004,is pitted against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's elder son M K Azhagiri,who has already claimed he would win with a margin of about three lakh votes. The CPI(M) last time also won the Nagercoil seat,which has now given way to Kanyakumari constituency after the delimitation. Like in the case of Madurai,the Left still has to go a long way to beat the DMK-Congress combine. In the newly-allotted Coimbatore seat,CPI(M) candidate Natarajan is likely to face the UPAs R Prabhu,a four-time Congress MP from neighbouring Nilgiris. Coimbatore has a significant working class population which can work in favour of the Left,though Prabhu is said to have a clout among businessmen in the city.
