Wearing a white turban to complement his white dhoti-shirt attire, H.S. Anand was seen pacing up and down at the Coimbatore Corporation West Zone office in R.S. Puram.
“I’m filing papers to contest in Ward 71 (R.S. Puram) as I have lived 60 of the 64 years of my life in and around the area and want to serve these people,” he said.
Mr. Anand, known in the city as Tony Singh, said he was filing nomination as an independent. “If I’m elected on a party ticket and were to win, I’ll be forced to serve the party men more than the public. By being an independent, I don’t have that compulsion,” he explained.
This was his first foray into election and the decision came after he had served the people during the COVID-19 pandemic period. “I had distributed around one lakh masks in the last two years and provided food to around 10,000 persons.”The other reasons were that the R.S. Puram area was congested, the roads were not good and other civic amenities were not good. Though I was born in Punjab and reached Coimbatore at four years of age, my soul is Tamil while the body is Punjabi,” he remarked.
Published - February 05, 2022 12:07 am IST
