The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) youth wing secretary and the party’s candidate for Salem Lok Sabha constituency, L.K. Sudheesh, on Sunday said his party and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) were united by the common objective of defeating the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu.
Asked whether it was possible for both the parties to work at the grassroot level after years of bickering over expansion of their base, Mr. Sudheesh, the brother-in-law of the DMDK’s founder-leader, actor Vijayakant, said, “We have buried our differences to defeat our common enemies, the DMK and the AIADMK”.
“I have with me the district secretaries of the PMK and we are working together,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Sudheesh said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance, projecting Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate, was way ahead of other political parties in Tamil Nadu. “Neither the DMK nor the AIADMK is able to tell the voters who will be the Prime Minister. They are clearly at a disadvantage,” he said.
Reacting to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s argument that the people of Tamil Nadu should not waste their vote on other parties, Mr. Sudheesh said a vote for the AIADMK would go against the State’s interests. “Electing candidates of the BJP and its alliance partners will be useful to Tamil Nadu,” he added.
The DMDK, contesting from both North Chennai and Central Chennai, has fielded its trade union wing secretary, M. Soundarapandian, and the teachers’ wing secretary, J.K. Ravindran, in these constituencies respectively.
The party’s North Chennai youth wing secretary, V. Yuvaraj, is the candidate for Tiruvallur (Reserved) constituency. It has fielded State students’ wing secretary A.M.G. Vijayakumar in Tiruchi and Madurai City unit secretary D. Sivamuthukumar will enter the fray from Madurai.
The party’s medical wing secretary, V.P. Eswaran, is the candidate for Kallakurichi and N. Dinesh Kumar, the party’s Tirupur North district secretary will contest from Tirupur constituency.
The DMDK’s Karur district secretary N.S. Krishnan is the candidate for the Karur constituency and Villupuram district vice-president K. Umasankar is the candidate for that reserved constituency. R. Ramanujam, the party’s teachers’ wing deputy secretary, will contest from the Cuddalore constituency and A. Krishnamoorthy is the candidate for the Dindigul seat.
For Tirunelveli constituency, the DMDK has fielded S. Sivananaintha Perumal, secretary of the party’s Maharastra State unit. In the 2006 Assembly elections, he contested from Radhapuram constituency.
“He has business interests in Maharastra,” said Mr. Sudheesh. As the earlier candidate for Namakkal, N. Maheswaran has opted out of the race due to poor health, and has been replaced by S.K. Vel, deputy secretary of the advocates’ wing.
The party has also fielded A.M. Kamaraj as the candidate for the Alandur Assembly constituency by-election, which fell vacant following the resignation of Panruti S. Ramachandran.
