Scotching all speculations and rumours of former Minister and Tirunelveli MLA Nainar Nagenthran of being “politically quarantined” by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam high command, the party general secretary Jayalalithaa has fielded him again in the same constituency, from where he was elected to the House in 2011 with a resounding margin of 38,491 votes.
Interestingly, he is the only sitting AIADMK MLA in the district to be fielded again in the electoral battle for the May 16 polls while party MLAs S. Muthuselvi of Sankarankovil (Reserved), S. Duraiyappa of Vasudevanallur (Reserved), P.G. Rajendran of Alangulam and Esakki Subiah of Ambasamudram have been denied tickets this time.
As expected, the ruling party has fielded Hepzi Karthikeyan, chairperson of Alangulam panchayat union at Alangulam, V.M. Rajalakshmi, chairperson of Sankarankovil municipality at Sankarankovil, A. Manoharan at Vasudevanallur and R. Murugaiah Pandian, chairman, Tamil Nadu Housing Board, at Ambasamudram, where he is likely to take on former Speaker R. Avudaiyappan of the DMK. And, the ruling party has fielded Wakf Board chairman A. Thamizh Mahan Hussein at Palayamkottai, a DMK stronghold now being represented by former minister T.P.M. Mohideen Khan.
While Tenkasi MLA and Akhila India Samaththuva Makkal Katchi founder-president R. Sarathkumar has been allotted Tiruchendur segment this time to possibly take on Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam heavyweight and former Minister Anita R. Radhakrishnan in the coastal segment, Nanguneri MLA Ernavoor A. Narayanan, who parted ways with the actor-turned-politician to back the AIADMK a couple of months ago, has been denied ticket.
Similarly, Radhapuram MLA S. Michael Royappan, who defected to the ruling AIADMK along with seven other MLAs of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, has also been left out.
Instead, the AIADMK supremo has fielded M. Vijayakumar, son of former Nanguneri MLA S. Manickaraj, in this constituency and G.T. Lawrence, Panagudi town panchayat president at Radhapuram constituency, where he may have to take on three-time MLA and DMK strongman M. Appavu.
After shifting Mr. Sarathkumar to Tiruchendur, the AIADMK has fielded C. Selva Mohandas Pandian, Keezhapaavoor Panchayat union chairman, at Tenkasi.
Though it was expected that Murali, son of late Minister and former MLA of Kadayanallur P. Chendurpandian, would be fielded in this constituency,
Ms. Jayalalithaa has allotted this segment to Shaik Dawood of Thamizh Maanila Muslim League.
