: AIADMK secretary Jayalalithaa has fielded some heavyweights in the local body elections.
Former Villivakkam MLA J.C.D. Prabhakaran, who had unsuccessfully taken on DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin in the Kolathur constituency in the May Assembly elections, has been given a ticket to contest for the post of councillor from Ward 80. It is expected that he could be one of the contenders for the party’s mayoral candidate post-elections. Mr. Prabhakaran, an old AIADMK hand since the days of its founder M G Ramachandran, had briefly been with the Tamil Maanila Congress in its formative years two decades ago.
The AIADMK has also given ticket to former MP Balaganga, who in 2001 had taken on Mr Stalin in a direct mayoral contest in Chennai and lost by a margin of a little over 5,000 votes, and ex-MLAs K. Kuppan and K.P. Kandan in Chennai.
Besides, 36 sitting councillors have been re-nominated in the State Capital.
In Tiruchi, Ms Jayalalithaa has rewarded former Mayor Sarubala Thondaiman with ticket. Ms Sarubala had recently quit the Tamil Maanila Congress and joined the ruling party.
She was the Mayor of Tiruchi from 2001 to 2009 before she quit the post to unsuccessfully contest in the Lok Sabha elections. In Salem, apart from Mayor Soundappan, a former MLA M. Natesan will be in the fray. Sitting Tiruchi Mayor A.Jaya also finds a place in the list. In Thanjavur Mayor Savitiri Gopal has been given the ticket.
In Tirupur, A. Visalakshi, who became the first woman Mayor of Tirupur Corporation, did not figure in the candidates’ list. The Coimbatore Corporation that would be headed by a woman mayor will not see the sitting Mayor Rajkumar or his predecessor and one-time local strongman S M Veluchamy in the fray.
Back in the fray
Deputy Mayor of Madurai K. Thraviam, who is holding the post of Mayor in-charge after Rajan Chellappa resigned from the top job and contested in the Assembly election, is once again in the fray. Vellore Mayor P. Karthiyaini and Tirunelveli Mayor E. Bhuvaneswari have been denied ticket.
In Thoothukudi Anthony Grace, who became the Mayor, after Sasikala Pushpa, (now Rajya Sabha MP, but expelled from the AIADMK), has not been given ticket. But her deputy Xavier has been given the opportunity to contest.
In Tiruchi, Jayalalithaa has rewarded former Mayor Sarubala Thondaiman with ticket
