CPI (M) leaders, led by its secretary G. Ramakrishnan, on Tuesday met Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and sought her support for their party candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls. The meeting took place at Kodanadu.
Mr. Ramakrishnan was accompanied by the party’s Legislative Party leader A. Soundararajan and party whip K. Balakrishnan. The AIADMK was represented by Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam and Electricity Minister Natham R. Viswanathan, besides Ms. Jayalalithaa.
“She told us that she would get back to us,” Mr Ramakrishnan told The Hindu.
The tenure of the CPI (M) Rajya Sabha member T.K. Rangarajan comes to an end in April.
Asked whether Mr. Rangarajan would be re-nominated, Mr. Ramakrishnan said a decision would be taken by the party’s secretariat committee meeting on Wednesday.
Last year, CPI national secretary D. Raja was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of the AIADMK.
Both Mr. Raja and Mr. Rangarajan were first elected to the Rajya Sabha when the two Left parties were part of the DMK- led alliance.
After withdrawing their support to the Congress-led UPA in the wake of Indo-US Nuclear Accord, the Left parties faced the Lok Sabha polls as part of the AIADMK alliance. They continued to remain in the alliance in the 2011 Assembly polls.
The CPI (M) has 10 MLAs and the CPI, 9 in the Assembly.
