Even as Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa has decided to seek re-election from the RK Nagar constituency, a Chennai suburb, in the May 16 election to Tamil Nadu Assembly, Vijayakant, the chief ministerial candidate of the People’s Welfare Front, has hopped to Ulundurpet in Villupuram district. The DMK has fielded Shimla Muthuchozhan, a 35- year-old woman lawyer, against the AIADMK leader at RK Nagar.
Shimla is the daughter-in-law of Sarguna Pandian, a former Minister in the Karunanidhi Cabinet. By fielding Shimla, a Christian, the DMK leadership is expecting to consolidate the minorities in the constituency. Jayalalithaa has won from this constituency in a bypoll held in June 2015 with a majority of 1,50,000 votes.
In 2011, Vijayakant was elected from Rishivandiyam constituency in the same district. The DMDK leader who contested the assembly election for the first time in 2006 had won from Vridhachalam in Cuddalore district. This is the third election to be contested by Vijayakant who has changed his constituency each time.
People in Rishivandiyam are upset that Vijayakant, who was also the Opposition leader of the outgoing Tamil Nadu assembly, has not bothered to visit the constituency. “Forget about him not visiting the constituency. He has not spoken anything in the House for the development of Rishivandiyam”, complained Rani, a housewife.
Muthuuvel Karunanidhi (93), the DMK chief who is the oldest candidate in the fray, is seeking re-election from Thiruvarur in the Cauvery Delta, the constituency from where he won the 2011 assembly election. Because of fragile health, Dr Kalaignar, who is always confined to a high-tech wheel chair, has visited the constituency only once in the last five years. But he will reach Thiruvarur on April 25 to file his nomination.
This is the 13th time the nonagenarian leader is contesting the assembly election. Karunanidhi is expected to address only one election rally in the constituency. His children Selvi and Tamilarasu will lead the campaign for him. It was the beautiful Selvi who was in charge of his campaign in the 2011 assembly election. The campaign style of Selvi had made her dear to the people of Thiruvarur who requested Karunanidhi to nominate her as a candidate.
Anbumani Ramadoss, the PMK’s chief ministerial candidate will contest his first-ever assembly election from Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district which has a seizable Vanniyar population. Anbumani got elected from Dharmapuri lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 general election. If he wins the election this time, he may have to quit as member of the lok Sabha which may necessitate a by election from Dharmapuri. “But he will quit only if the PMK wins the assembly election. If the election is won by the AIADMK or the
DMK, Anbumani is unlikely to quit his lok Sabha seat,” said a PMK insider.
Seeman Sebastian, leader of Tamil chauvinistic party Naam Tamilar is contesting from Cuddalore, where he has built up a group of Tamil nationalists working for the creation of a separate Eelam in Sri lanka. “Seeman has influence in certain pockets of Tamil Nadu and he is capable of causing upsets,” said Hariharan, political commentator with a leading Tamil News Channel.