While the PWF, DMDK and TMC alliance zeroing in on the AIADMK’s alleged poor management of funds, and issues related to bad roads, water scarcity, and corruption, BJP is more interested in talking about the Smart City proposal formulated by the Central Government to woo the voters of Coimbatore South constituency.

The prestigious constituency, which has been a fortress of the AIADMK for a while now, is receiving special attention from the BJP after the increased number of votes it had received in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. With a special manifesto for the constituency, which is being formulated by the party’s candidate Vanathi Srinivasan, BJP is also looking forward to lure more than 20,000 new voters to support them.

Vanathi Srinivasan, who filed her nomination papers around 1.30 pm on Monday, after special poojas at the Koniamman Temple, told reporters that she was planning to set up a special employment centre for the youth, women empowerment centre, and a jewel park cluster, which has been a long pending demand of the jewel manufacturers of Coimbatore.

“The special manifesto will address all the issues in the constituency,” she said.

She also added that with Coimbatore being a close-to-the-heart city for the BJP, national leaders and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi could also campaign in the city.

She further claimed that even members of the Muslim community, who number more than 30,000, would be supporting the secular party.

However, C. Padmanabhan, the PWF-DMDK-TMC candidate, said that their party was looking to save the constituency from Minister of Law, S.P. Velumani, who had allegedly used around Rs.80 crores of the funds that were allotted for his constituency, Coimbatore.

“The roads here are bad; water is supplied only once in 15 days, and the corporation is haunted by corruption. We need to change this, and our campaigning will reflect all this,” he said.

Meanwhile, both the candidates exchanged courtesy greetings with each other when they filed nominations, one after the other, on the same day.

With a total of 2,39,041 voters, the AIADMK and the DMK have won five times each. The Indian National Congress had won four times from the constituency. But, of late, the AIADMK had been enjoying strong popularity in the constituency.

The other two main contenders – Mayura S. Jayakumar of the DMK-Congress alliance, and Amman Arjunan from the AIADMK – have not filed their nomination papers yet.