Hectic parleys are on in the All India N.R. Congress over the party ticket for the Thattanchavady byelection, which will be held along with the Lok Sabha poll on April 18. There are at least four claimants, including a former MLA and a realtor, for the ticket, a senior ANIRC functionary told The Hindu .
As it is a prestige battle for the AINRC to retain the seat, the party leadership is pulling out all stops to field a winnable candidate, especially as the seat was represented by AINRC chief N. Rangasamy while he was in the Congress from 1991 to 2011.
The Thattanchavady by-election came about from the conviction by a CBI special court of MLA Ashok Anand in a disproportionate assets case.
When the constituency was bifurcated, he moved to Kadirgamam and fielded Ashok Anand from Thattanchavady as the candidate of his then fledgling All India N.R. Congress in the 2011 Assembly elections.
He won the seat with a huge margin.
Mr. Anand then again successfully contested the 2016 Assembly elections but had to vacate the seat last year following his conviction by a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation. “We will get the right candidate as it is a prestige battle for us. It is our stronghold but will not take any chances,” he said.
High stakes
Meanwhile, the Congress-DMK combine is keen to wrest the seat from AINRC as it was evident from the way the ruling front leaders went out of the way to placate the Communist Party of India when the party expressed its displeasure over DMK’s decision to field a candidate.
The Communist Party of India had staked claim for the seat due to its comparatively better performance in Thattanchavady in the 2016 Assembly polls.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Namassivayam and DMK leaders visited the CPI office in a bid to dissuade the Left from fielding a candidate.
The CPI State council meeting which met here on Friday finally decided not to enter the fray. The Left party has agreed to campaign for the DMK candidate.
A senior DMK functionary said its candidate K. Venkatesan will file nomination on Monday. The party may field a close confidant of Mr. Rangasamy in the party as candidate.
