“Competition was unhealthy but I am not going to lose any sleep over its outcome,” said former Telecom Minister A. Raja of the DMK while talking to The Hindu here on Friday about his chances of being re-elected from the Nilgiris Parliamentary constituency.
In the elections held on Thursday among those who crossed swords with Mr. Raja were C. Gopalakrishnan (AIADMK), P. Gandhi (Congress) and M.T. Rani (AAP). The percentage of polling recorded was 72.95.
Lamenting that the distribution of money to voters by the AIADMK had affected the spirit of the competition, he said that it had been converted into a fight between real democratic values and underhand means.
Averring that it will not affect his victory chances, he said, “I am not going to allow that spoil my sleep as at the most, only the margin may come down. My performance over the last five years despite various hurdles will see me through,” he said and added that throughout the campaign people, particularly women, had responded enthusiastically.
The suspense till May 16 will not affect him in any way as he will be tied up with dealing with issues like the trial in the 2G case.
To a query, Mr. Raja said that if the Congress claims that the 2G issue had tarnished its image it can only blame itself as, “all along I have been saying that the stand of the Congress in the matter will backfire.”
To another question, he said that the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu was different in many ways as for the first time it was four cornered with both the major Dravidian parties not having to draw the attention of the people to issues concerning national parties.
Thus, the focus was more on the performance of the State Government over the last three years.
