: The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun scouting for a possible candidate for the Srirangam by-election scheduled for February 13.
The party national president, Amit Shah, will finalise the name of the candidate during a visit to Chennai on January 18.
Senior leaders of the BJP said Mr. Shah is set to attend a family function of RSS ideologue S. Gurumurthy on January 18. Later in the day, he will discuss the list of shortlisted candidates and finalise the name.
“Though by-elections in Tamil Nadu have rarely gone against the ruling party, we are nevertheless certain to enter the fray. We want to maintain the momentum that we got in the Lok Sabha elections till the 2016 Assembly polls,” the leader said.
However, the BJP is not sure of support from its existing allies - the PMK and the DMDK. “We expect them to boycott the polls” the leader said.
The DMK has already announced its candidate for the by-poll.
