The ruling AIADMK on Monday named Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) leader G.K. Vasan as one of its three nominees for the March 26 Rajya Sabha biennial elections and ignored the demand for a berth by another ally, the DMDK. The other two seats were allotted to former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai and former Minister K.P. Munusamy. Unlike in July, when the party chose two lesser-known personalities for the Upper House, this time around it picked veterans. But its choice of Mr. Vasan generated ripples.
Sources in the AIADMK emphasised that the BJP “played an important role” in getting a seat for Mr. Vasan, a former Congressman and Union Minister [Mr. Vasan denied this. See interview]. While joining the AIADMK-BJP alliance last year, he had declared that the TMC (M) had come “far away” from the Congress. Unlike the PMK, which was allotted one Rajya Sabha seat last year by the ruling party as part of the Lok Sabha electoral pact, there was no formal agreement between the AIADMK and the TMC (M) for an Upper House berth.
Sources said that even though there were many “qualified candidates” within the AIADMK for the third seat, the party leadership “came under pressure from New Delhi”. This explains the selection of Mr. Vasan, whose party, like the PMK, does not have a single legislator in the Assembly. Two other allies of the ruling party — the DMDK and the New Justice Party — too made attempts to get the third seat.
On record, the AIADMK and the BJP disputed that the latter had anything to do with Mr. Vasan’s nomination.
A perusal of electoral performance of the PMK, the DMDK and the TMC (M) since 2016 reveals that the TMC (M) comes third. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the PMK, which fielded nominees all over the State, secured 5.41% of the votes polled while the DMDK and the TMC (M), which put up nominees in 104 and 26 constituencies, as part of a six-party-combine, got 2.39% and 0.53% of the votes, respectively.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and rural local bodies’ polls, all three parties were part of a front headed by the AIADMK. The PMK, which was given seven Lok Sabha seats, polled 5.49% votes; DMDK 2.22% in four seats and the TMC (M) 0.53% in 1 seat. In the rural local bodies’ elections held in December, the three parties remained in the AIADMK-led alliance. The PMK bagged 16 district panchayat (DP) wards and 220 panchayat union (PU) wards; DMDK 3 DP wards and 97 PU wards and the TMC (M) 2 and 13 wards, respectively.
Yet, justiyfing Mr. Vasan’s selection, the AIADMK’s organising secretary and Mettur legislator, S. Semmalai, said that the move has to be seen against the backdrop that he was an “experienced person and a former Union Minister.” Besides, he added, “we have given the seat only to one of our allies, following the formula adopted last time. This does not mean that we are neglecting others, whose case will be considered by the party leadership when an occasion arises.”
To a question on the reported pressure from the BJP, Mr. Semmalai, who represented the party in the Lok Sabha during 2009-2014, said, “Why should they (BJP) seek the ticket for Mr. Vasan, when they have many leaders in their party? And, there is no necessity for them to apply pressure on us on behalf of the TMC (M) or Mr. Vasan.” P. Muralidhar Rao, BJP general secretary looking after Tamil Nadu affairs, who met Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami last week, said he did not discuss the issue of allotting a seat to Mr. Vasan.
As for the party’s choice of veterans, both of whom hail from Krishnagiri district, instead of younger persons, the AIADMK’s organising secretary said that in July, the party had given opportunities to relatively less-known members of the party. “This time, we have allotted the seats to two very senior and competent leaders of our party. We believe they are the most suitable candidates,” Mr. Semmalai added.
