The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is learnt to have strongly backed the nomination of G.K. Vasan, leader of the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu where biennial election is scheduled later this month. The ruling AIADMK on Monday named him as one of the three nominees for the Upper House.
A former Congressman and Union Minister, Mr. Vasan had allied with the AIADMK-BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections declaring that his party had come a long way from the Congress since its revival, over five years ago. The TMC was allotted one Lok Sabha seat. Unlike with the PMK, the AIADMK did not enter into an express agreement with the TMC promising a berth in the Upper House.
The ruling party also nominated two of its former Ministers — M. Thambi Durai and K.P. Munusamy — both of whom had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections for the biennial polls. However, it ignored the open demand of another ally Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam (DMDK) for a Rajya Sabha berth. In the Lok Sabha polls, the DMDK was allotted four seats.
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In July last year, the AIADMK allotted one of the three seats of the Rajya Sabha to another ally, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which nominated its youth wing leader and another former Union Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss.
Though Mr. Munusamy and Mr. Thambi Durai were expected to get the party nomination, what was not clear till late last week was who would get the third seat, as there were too many aspirants to fill the slot. In this regard, the party leadership was under enormous pressure from various quarters.
Another partner of the AIADMK, the New Justice Party too, was keen on getting the seat for its chief, A.C. Shanmugam, former MLA and MP. In the deferred election to the Vellore parliamentary seat held in August last year, Mr Shanmugam was the AIADMK’s choice but he lost by a narrow margin.
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