MDMK general secretary Vaiko will be the party’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls from Tamil Nadu. The decision was taken by the party’s high-level district secretaries’ committee on Tuesday.
Mr. Vaiko, when elected with the support of DMK MLAs, would be entering the Upper House after a gap of 23 years. His previous tenure in the Rajya Sabha was between 1990 and 1996 as a representative of the DMK [He was expelled from the party in 1993]. “When I expressed my desire to be in Parliament, DMK leader Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) nominated me to the Rajya Sabha in 1978,” he told The Hindu, recalling his first election to the Upper House.
In 1977, when the AIADMK, headed by M.G. Ramachandran, came to power, the DMK faced a heavy reversal of electoral fortune in the south, but managed to win Sankarankoil, Mr. Vaiko’s home constituency. At the time, he was the deputy organiser of the party’s student wing. Earlier, he was arrested and jailed during the Emergency declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“ Kalaignar liked my speeches and I worked very hard in the election in Sankarankoil constituency. It was the only constituency that was retained by the DMK in the south,” he recalled.
Mr. Vaiko’s second tenure in the Rajya Sabha began in 1984 and the third tenure in 1990. Before the end of his term, his relationship with the DMK leadership strained, and he was expelled from the party. He subsequently launched the MDMK. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 as part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance, and again in 1999, when the DMK replaced the AIADMK in the alliance. He was arrested by the Jayalalithaa government and jailed for 19 months for supporting the banned LTTE, but went on to join hands with the AIADMK in 2006. He revived the MDMK’s ties with the DMK when Karunanidhi was confined to his home due to ill-health.
