V. Maitreyan, three-time member of Rajya Sabha and once a prominent face of the AIADMK in New Delhi, on Monday lamented the manner in which he was not re-nominated to the Upper House. He was denied a ticket to contest from the South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency in April.
“It is not that I am crying over the denial of ticket. More than not being given an opportunity, I feel hurt more because I had expected the minimum courtesy of being informed [by the party’s high command] about the denial,” Dr. Maitreyan, former leader of the AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha, told The Hindu at his residence in Chennai.
He was replying to a question whether he was justified in expressing his grievance about not being given a berth, though he had enjoyed one position or the other nearly for sixteen-and-half years out of 20 years of his association with the party.
In the Upper House, Dr. Maitreyan had three stints — once from February 2002 to June 2004 besides getting elected twice in July 2007 and 2013.
The high command, “which may be having valid reasons” for not giving him the ticket, could have told him that “look, we are not able to accommodate you this time. Let’s see next time,” said the former MP, who was also Special Representative of the AIADMK government between August 2004 and May 2006.
He pointed out that “after all, I had represented the party and madam (Jayalalithaa) for 16-odd years in New Delhi.”
He said on the three occasions that he was nominated, he did not request Jayalalithaa to make him an MP. “I had come to know about my nomination only through the media.”
No criteria
Just as in the case of the Left and the BJP, the criteria could be fixed for giving ticket or positions.
In 2017, Sitaram Yechury, despite being general secretary of the CPI (Marxist), was not made MP for the third term.
In respect of the BJP, the cut-off age for anyone to be Central Minister was 75. As for giving party ticket for parliament elections, a candidate’s performance, especially in the Upper House, should be considered.
Asked what the party and the State government should do in the next two years to regain AIADMK’s old vote share, Dr. Maitreyan called for early formation of the steering committee.
At the joint general council of two factions headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam in September 2017, a resolution was adopted to this effect.
In the area of governance, it would be enough if the government followed “policies and programmes which were introduced and successfully implemented during Amma [Jayalalithaa]’s chief ministership.”
He cited the example of “Amma Unavagam,” low-cost eateries across the State. “Despite knowing that they would be a drain on the exchequer, Amma launched it. This was one of the reasons for the party getting a vote share of 44% in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.”
About the speculation that he would quit the AIADMK, he replied that “I have, all along, been a loyalist of Amma.”
Would he remain so till the end? “Obviously” was his curt reply.
