An articulate parliamentarian is all voters in Tiruppur Lok Sabha seat look for

Joblessness, shortcomings in urban infrastructure, pollution from SIPCOT industrial estate, water shortage and absence of industrial development dominate the issues in the constituency

To say that the Tiruppur knitwear industry is in a crisis would be an understatement.

While joblessness, shortcomings in urban infrastructure, and pollution dominate the issues confronting Tiruppur North and Tiruppur South segments, absence of industrial development is of concern for the electorate in Gobichettipalayam and Anthiyur segments. In Perundurai, the main problems are pollution from the SIPCOT Industrial Estate and water shortage.

The key contestants in this constituency represent Communist Party of India (CPI), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK).

The CPI has retained its sitting MP K. Subbarayan; the AIADMK has fielded its Erode Suburban East District MGR Youth Wing Secretary P. Arunachalam, who belongs to Perundurai; the BJP has fielded A.P. Muruganandam, and the Naam Tamizhar Katchi has a woman candidate Seethalakshmi.

The CPI candidate, Mr. Subbarayan, is campaigning for his reelection with a promise that there will be good tidings for the industry in the event of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA bloc) assuming power. BJP candidate Mr. Muruganandam, on the other hand, says he is campaigning with the momentum generated in the party by the recent visits of Prime Minister Narendra

Modi to Palladam and Coimbatore. The AIADMK candidate has for his support seasoned politician and former Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Subbarayan secured 50,8725 votes, defeating M.S.M. Anandan of AIADMK who polled 41,5357, by a winning margin of 8.3 percent. In the previous term, the constituency had an AIADMK MP V. Sathyabama. The party has had a traditional support base in the constituency. Campaigners for the Naam Tamizhar Katchi candidate say they have enough reasons to believe that a majority of the firstgeneration voters will be on her side.

As for the ground realities, joblessness has peaked again in Tiruppur. It is simply impossible for a worker in a garment unit to make a living in the city, meeting the costs towards house rent, power bill, education for children, monthly provisions and medical expenditure, says N. Shanmugasundaram, a consumer activist.

Nevertheless, industry representatives in Tiruppur invariably view absence of an articulate representative in Parliament to be the cause for the crisis confronting knitwear exports. Only fifty percent of the industrial units in Tiruppur are functional. The rest of the hosiery units have closed down. If the industry in the town that has a capacity to cater to ₹