The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has given its ticket to two MPs, two former MLAs, and two new faces in the six LoK Sabha constituencies falling in the central region.
The party has retained M. Thambidurai (Karur) and P. Kumar (Tiruchi), both MPs, while opting for Bharathi Mohan and K. Gopal, both former MLAs as candidates for Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam reserved constituencies respectively.
K. Parasuraman, who has been nominated as party candidate for Thanjavur and R.P. Marutharajaa for the Perambalur constituency are new faces in fray.
Born into an agricultural family on March 15, 1947, Thambi Durai is a native of Chinthagampalli village in Krishnagiri district. Dr. Thambi Durai has been elected to the Lok Sabha four times — representing Dharmapuri in 1984, Karur in 1989, 1998 and 2009. He was the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha (1985 -1989) and held portfolios including Law, Justice, and Company Affairs,Surface Transport in 1998-99. He represented the Bargur Assembly Constituency for one term (2001-06). He has been Tamil Nadu Education Minister in 2001-02.
Forty two-year-old P. Kumar, a lawyer by profession, has been fielded by the party in Tiruchi for the second consecutive time. In the last election, he defeated the former Tiruchirapalli Mayor and Congress candidate Sarubala R. Tondaiman by a slender margin of 4,335 votes. Mr. Kumar is State secretary of AIADMK’s ‘Ilaignar and Ilampengal Paasarai’.
K. Parasuraman (54), who has been named as the party’s candidate for Thanjavur constituency, is a new face. Born at Pudur in Orathanadu taluk, Mr. Parasuraman is a graduate. He has been the president of Neelagiri panchayat for three consecutive terms from 2001. He is the Joint Secretary of MGR Mandram of Thanjavur South District.
Forty-six year-old Bharathi Mohan, a native of Kanjanur in Thirupanandal in Thanjavur district is selected as candidate for the constituency of Mayiladuthurai. A one-time MLA of Thiruvidaimarudhur from 2006-11, he started his career in 1995 as branch secretary of the party; in 1997 held the post of Union Secretary of Jayalalitha Peravai and Thirupanandal Union AIADMK Secretary. He is Director of Tamil Nadu Cooperative Union and President of Thanjavur Directirct Cooperative Union.
K. Gopal (55), who has been nominated as the party’s candidate for the reserved constituency of Nagapattinam. Gopal, a former MLA and a doctor by profession at Nannilam in Tiruvarur district. Dr. Gopal has been in the party since 1980. He was elected as MLA of Nannilam from 1991-96.
He was defeated in the 1996 Assembly elections in the same constituency. The AIAMDK fielded him as its candidate in the Nagapattinam Lok Sabha constituency in 1998, when he again suffered defeat to M. Selvarasu of CPI. He was announced as candidate for Thirthuraipoondi Assembly constituency in 2011 but was changed to accommodate alliance party.
The AIADMK has fielded R.P. Marutharajaa as its candidate for the Perambalur constituency. A die-hard party member for over 30 years, 51-year-old Marutharajaa has continued to hold the post of AIADMK Perambalur union secretary since 2004.
A postgraduate in Applied Geology, Marutharajaa is at present the Perambalur union chairman after being elected in the local body polls held in 2011. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Marutharajaa’s was named by the party high command as its candidate, but was subsequently replaced by K.K. Balasubramanian, the then Tiruchi rural district secretary. Belonging to the Muthuraja community, Mr. Marutharajaa says he is well aware of the profile of the agrarian and industrially backward Perambalur district.
