The CPI (M) on Monday announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, including two women — U. Vasuki for North Chennai and S. Tamilselvi for Thanjavur — and two Dalit candidates.
Talking to reporters, party State secretary, G. Ramakrishnan said one of the Dalit candidates, K. Samuel Raj, is for the Virudhunagar general constituency. He is the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF).
Another Dalit candidate, G. Anandhan will enter the fray from the Villupuram reserved constituency. He is the party’s State committee member. The party has renominated its sitting MP, P.R. Natarajan, who was elected from Coimbatore in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll.
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A.V. Bellarmine will once again contest from Kanyakumari.
Mr. Bellarmine was elected from Nagercoil in 2004, before it was renamed after delimitation.
Madurai City unit secretary of the party P. Vikraman is the candidate for the Madurai constituency which elected party candidate late P. Mohan two times in the past.
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S. Sridhar, the party’s Tiruchi district unit secretary, is the candidate for Tiruchi. Dindigul district secretary N. Pandi will contest from Dindigul.
Ms. Vasuki, secretariat member of the party, is the daughter of senior CPI (M) leader R. Umanath and the late Papa Umanath.
Ms. Tamilselvi is the Thanjavur district secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.
Mr. Ramakrishnan ruled out the possibility of a rapprochement with the ruling party, saying the situation did not arise since the AIADMK leadership had conveyed its decision to part ways with the Left parties.
He said the Left parties could not join hands with the DMK because it was part of the Congress-led UPA and supported its neo-liberalisation policies.