Jayalalithaa may opt out from Andipatti this election

Is the AIADMK supremo eyeing the new Kavundampalayam constituency in Coimbatore? Reliable party sources insist that the AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa may test her electoral fortunes in the Kavundampalayam seat. For the newly-carved constituency apparently tops the list of AIADMK's winnable seats in Tamil Nadu. "We believe Kavundampalayam is a constituency which is the most favourable semi-urban constituency for us. And there is a talk in the party that Amma should contest from Kavundampalayam," a senior party leader and a former minister told TOI. Jayalalithaa may opt out of re-contesting from Andipatti in Theni district and is scrutinising a list of safe seats. She has contested from Andipatti only twice, once in 2002 and again in 2006
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The Kongu belt of western Tamil Nadu, especially Coimbatore, has been a safe turf for the AIADMK. Even when its bastions in southern Tamil Nadu tumbled in the 2006 assembly election and 2009 Lok Sabha election, the party captured all but one assembly seat in Coimbatore district and grabbed all the four parliamentary seats in western Tamil Nadu including Pollachi and Coimbatore.

AIADMK functionaries feel Kavundampalayam will be a cakewalk for their leader. For in this constituency which ideally blends rural sprawl with urban fringes, they feel the influence of the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KNMK), a new ally of the ruling DMK, is far too limited. There's also another reason why Jayalalitha [...]