Three sitting Legislators of the ruling AINRC who were denied tickets by the party leadership revolted and filed nominations as independent candidates on the last day of filing of nominations.
Trouble was brewing in the AINRC camp after Legislators P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram, M. Vaithianathan and P. Karthikeyan had revolted against the party leadership over the choice of candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls last year. The AINRC founder and Chief Minister N. Rangasamy allotted the seat to the AIADMK and sealed a deal. Supporters of Mr. Kalyanasundaram on Thursday laid siege to the Chief Minister’s residence and made a vain bid to persuade Mr. Rangasamy to nominate him for Kalapet after his name did not appear in the first list of candidates.
The AINRC which released its second list of candidates for nine Assembly segments a few hours before commencement of filing of nominations issued B form to new candidates in Kalapet, Lawspet and Oussudu (Reserved) constituencies.
Mr. Rangasamy allotted the Lawspet seat to sitting DMK MLA Nandha T. Saravanan who had been projecting himself as the AINRC candidate for the last few months. All the three MLAs immediately filed nomination as independent candidates.
Mr. Vaithianathan and Mr. Kalyanasundaram filed nomination for Lawspet and Kalapet Assembly constituencies respectively while Mr. Karthikeyan filed papers for Oussudu constituency.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Vaithianathan said that he was not worried over the party’s decision to deny him a ticket. “The people of the constituency are well aware of the works implemented in the last five years and hence will extend their total support to me,” he said.
