The announcement of Selvaperunthagai as the Congress nominee for the Sriperumbudur constituency last week surprised many even in party circles.
Now, it has emerged that D. Yasodha, a senior leader and former MLA from the constituency, had written to the party president Sonia Gandhi urging her not to field Selvaperunthangai even before the formal announcement.
In her letter, Ms. Yasodha has accused Mr. Selvaperunthangai of being a “LTTE hardcore” who recently joined Congress to protect his “ill-gotten wealth.”
Calling him a “political tourist” who keeps changing political parties, Ms. Yasodha writes further that Mr. Selvaperunthangai, as member of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, had “ransacked” the Tamil Nadu Congress party office in December 2008. “Chief Minster Jayalalithaa imprisoned him under the Goondas Act. He was in jail for murdering an auditor. As per his own affidavit to the Election Commission, he carries 12 crime cases for serious crimes,” the letter states.
Ms. Yasodha further said that in July 2015, the police tried to stop Mr. Selvaperunthangai from getting close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi citing his “criminal background and LTTE links”; but by “manipulation”, he ended up sharing the dais.
In her letter, Yasodha referred to Selvaperunthangai’s ‘LTTE links’ and other pending cases
