Two-time PMK MLA and firebrand Vanniyar Sangam leader ‘Kaduvetti’ J. Guru died at a private hospital on Friday. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
Born in Katuvetti in Ariyalur district, Guru (57), was the son of local CPI leader Jayaraman. But Guru got actively involved in the movement spearheaded by PMK founder S. Ramadoss seeking separate reservation for the Vanniyars in the 1980s. Guru became one of his trusted lieutenants.
While Dr. Ramadoss took care of the PMK, the task of mobilising the Vanniyar community in favour of the party was left to Guru.
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He was first elected to the Assembly in 2001 in Andimadam and again in 2011 from Jayamkondam. He was the leader of the PMK legislature party during the second tenure. He lost in the Assembly elections in 2006 and 2016. He also contested unsuccessfully from the Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
Guru faced many cases for making inflammatory speeches. In 2008, he was detained under the National Security Act for threatening the then Union Minister A. Raja and DMK MLA Sivasankar, while addressing a public meeting. Again in 2013, he was arrested for making a hate speech. Subsequently NSA was slapped against him.
Guru was suffering from breathing difficulties and underwent tracheotomy sometime ago.
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