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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Jayalalithaa today announced her party’s support to Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate D Raja in the Rajya Sabha polls.
In a statement in Chennai, she said AIADMK candidate K Thangamuthu, who has filed his nomination as a candidate, will withdraw his nomination in favour of Raja.
The election will be held on June 27. There are six Rajya Sabha vacancies from Tamil Nadu. The ruling AIADMK was contesting five of them.
Its candidates - V Maitreyan, K R Arjunan, T Rathinavel, R Lakshmanan and Thangamuthu - had filed their nomination papers last Wednesday. But after today’s decision, there would be one less.
Today’s decision by Jayalalithaa is in pursuit of her objective. She had declared that in the forthcoming general election, her party would not enter any alliance, would contest all seats on its own, and ensure its rival, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) did not win even one seat.
Jayalalithaa’s withdrawing of her party’s candidate in favour of Raja has now sharpened the contest for Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi.
The DMK does not have the numbers to get Kanimozhi elected. So, it is seeking assistance from other parties. So is the CPI, which doesn't have the numbers on its own to get Raja elected.
The DMK might have to go, cap in hand, to the Congress from which it had such an unceremonious falling out just months ago.
With this, the changing political equations in Tamil Nadu have come sharply to light. Left parties – the CPI and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – have been traditional allies of the DMK. They are now rivals. In the past, they had dubbed Jayalalithaa communal. Now, it is her party’s support which they are seeking.
In the election, nominees polling 34 votes each will get elected. The DMK has only 23 members in the Tamil Nadu House. It has been assured of the five votes of the Congress. It is trying to woo Vijayakanth of the Dravida Munnetra Desiya Morpokku (DMDK).
The AIADMK, with 151 members, including the speaker, in the 235-member assembly, can ensure the election of four of its members without any difficulty.
The DMDK has 29 legislators, DMK 23, CPI (M) 10, CPI eight and the Congress has five.
