The Chidambaram family has succeeded in buying silence from Congress leader Sudarshana Nachiappan, who had revolted against the High Command’s decision to nominate Karti Chidambaram as the party candidate from Sivaganga parliamentary constituency.
In a hurriedly convened press meet at Karaikudi late Tuesday evening, Nachiappan, a strong contender for the seat, shook hands with Karti and declared that he would work for the success of the latter. “Our ultimate dream of making Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister of the country would materialise only if Karti wins from here. Moreover, Karti is my loveable brother and there is no issue between us,” said Nachiappan while speaking to reporters at the Congress office in Karaikudi. He also recited verses from the scriptures to drive home his stance that he was not after power or wealth.
The Congress leadership had deputed AICC secretary Sanjay Dutt to Karaikudi to sort out the issue. Tuesday morning saw a series of phone calls between various Congress leaders in the State and Nachiappan. The rebel leader came down from his intransigent stance after he got a call from Chidambaram, said a senior Congress leader in the State. Following some plain speaking by Chidambaram, who was once the Home Minister of the country, Nachiappan rushed to the party office, shook hands with Karti and offered peace.
But Karti, who had forfeited his security in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the same constituency may have to sweat it out this time as the Chidambarams are no more that popular in the region, according to a former Congress leader in Sivaganga. “If the AIADMK led front succeeds in mobilising the Mukkulathoor community votes in favour of H Raja, the BJP nominee, it would be a tough task for Kart,” said Arunagrinathan, former Seva Dal chief of the district.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram got another success in the run up to the election as Raja Kannappan, the AIADMK leader who had contested against him in the 2009 election from the same constituency declaring that he would actively campaign for Karti. The AIADMK leader who lost narrowly to Chidambaram in the 2009 election had filed a petition in Madras High Court challenging the latter’s election which is in the final stage of hearing.
Raja Kannappan’s argument was that the data entry operators employed in the counting station by the then DMK government entered the votes polled by him in the account of Chidambaram and vice versa. J Jayalalithaa, the then Leader of the Opposition herself wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner stating that Chidambaram’s win was by fraudulent means and not based on the votes cast by the electorate.
Jayalalithaa said in the letter that 3400 votes polled by Kannappan from 11 polling stations were entered in favour of Chidambaram and 1617 votes polled by the later were entered in favour of the AIADMK candidate. She said this was done by the DEOs at the behest of the then DMK government and no action was taken against the operators who indulged in such grave offences.
The court is all set to examine Pankaj Kumar Bansal, the then Returning Officer on April 22.On Monday, when the matter came up for hearing , the new judge Pushpa Sathyanarayana issued a stern warning to all concerned and said that the case should not be prolonged further. Kannappan, who crossed over to the DMK recently following denial of seat to him by the AIADMK has said that he would not withdraw the cases.