The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : Jayalalithaa to contest from Srirangam
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Jayalalithaa will contest from Srirangam in the April 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Ms. Jayalalithaa, who contested from Andipatti in Theni district in the last two Assembly elections, has picked the temple town in Tiruchi district for the first time. She will kick-start her campaign from Madurai on Friday. A factor that may have weighed in her choice of Srirangam was that the party candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections established a big lead of over 20,000 votes in the Assembly segment. This lead helped the AIADMK pip the Congress candidate, who had polled more votes in the other five segments, but still lost the Lok Sabha seat. Actor Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), its new-found ally, polled over 13,000 votes from the constituency, which makes Srirangam seem a much safer seat for Ms. Jayalalithaa.
The AIADMK released a list of 160 candidates, which meant that the doors are almost closed for the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led by Vaiko. Talks with the MDMK have broken down over the number of seats offered to it. As Mr. Vaiko was reluctant to accept anything less than 21 seats, Ms. Jayalalithaa released her party candidates' list on Wednesday evening.
Besides Ms. Jayalalithaa, 26 sitting members have been re-nominated, while several former Ministers, including O. Panneerselvam (Bodinayakanur), E. Madhusudhanan (R.K. Nagar), D. Jayakumar (Royapuram), K.A. Sengottaiyan (Gobichettipalayam), Pollachi V Jayaraman (Udumalpet) B. Valarmathi (Thousand Lights), C. Ve. Shanmugam (Villupuram), S.M. Veluchamy (Sulur) and R. Viswanathan (Natham) have been fielded again.
The two Left parties expressed shock over the AIADMK list, as several of the constituencies that they had sought figured in it. The CPI's State Council and the CPI(M)'s State Secretariat would meet on Thursday to discuss the situation, sources in the parties said.
Keywords: Jayalalithaa, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu Assembly election
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