Senior CPI leader 62-year-old C. Mahendran will contest the R.K. Nagar by-poll against the incumbent Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa.
The announcement comes at a time when the AIADMK’s main rival, the DMK and other other parties, have boycotted the by-poll.
Speaking about his candidature, Mr. Mahendran said he would talk about the issues faced by the people of R.K. Nagar, where the AIADMK has won 6 times.
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“R.K. Nagar is a poor neighbourhood, where a lot of houses were allotted by government to be given out to people. Because of corrupt practices, the houses haven’t reached the people. It is also a constituency which has a lot of homeless people. Also, the amount of garbage one can find in R.K. Nagar is extraordinary. I will place these issues in front of the people and campaign for a change,” he said.
Mr. Mahendran, who hails from Thanjavur district, said he would pitch for an alternative economic plan.
“We will explain to the people the perils of the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by the State and Central Government.”
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The senior leader, who is the editor of ‘Thamarai’, a literary magazine started by the late Communist leader, Jeevanandam, will file his nomination on June 9.
The resignation of R.K. Nagar constituency’s sitting MLA, P. Vetrivel, after the acquittal of Jayalalithaa in the DA case, paved the way for her nomination in the by poll. The AIADMK supremo and chief minister Jayalalithaa filed her nomination early on Friday.