The CPI is finding it difficult to nominate a candidate for the Rajya Sabha election scheduled for next month. Party insiders claim the CPI’s candidate would be decided not by the party State or Central leadership, but by the AIADMK leader and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who would like to have D Pandian, the CPI State secretary, as the nominee of the lefts for the Rajya Sabha election.
A meeting between Pandian and AIADMK Ministers O Paneerselvan and Natham Viswanathan held in the last week of May at the former’s residence has given rise to many speculations. Interestingly, no one other than Pandian from the CPI were present during the meeting. This has given rise to wide resentment in the CPI, with R Nallakannu, one of the senior leaders questioning the propriety of such a meeting.
The tenure of CPI’s D Raja and five other Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu are coming to an end on July 24. Others are MK Kanimozhi, Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Mythreyan and A Ilavarasan (AIADMK) and BS Gnanadesikan (Congress).
A candidate could get elected to the Upper House only if he or she has the support of 34 MlAs. The AIADMK with 150 members could ensure that four of its nominees will make it to Rajya Sabha from the State. The DMK has only 23 members and needs 11 more votes to renominate Kanimozhi. Though Karunanidhi has approached the DMDK (which has 29 members in the House), Vijayakant is yet to send any signal. “Captain (as Vijayakant is addressed by the DMDK cadre) has not yet made up his mind. Chances of him supporting the DMK look bleak as of today,” said a DMDK second wrung leader.
The CPI has nine members. According to sources in the CPI, the 10-member CPI(M) has agreed to support the former’s nominee. The lefts contested the 2011 Assembly election in company of the AIADMK and the combination swept the elections. If the AIADMK decides to transfer its surplus 15 votes to the CPI, the party nominee will get a seat in the Chennai-New Delhi flight. The AIADMK support comes with a big rider attached to it. “The AIADMK leadership wants to know whom the CPI is going to nominate as the party’s candidate. D Raja who got elected in 2008 with DMK support is not acceptable to Jayalalithaa. She is more at home with Pandian with whom she always had cordial relation,” said a CPI leader.
The CPI national leadership, which wanted to nominate Raja for another six-year term, has been struggling hard to get an appointment with the AIADMK leader for the last one month. “The party’s national headquarters was told to nominate the candidate and then come for discussions,” said a CPI functionary, which made it clear that the AIADMK has reservations about Raja. Jayalalithaa has not forgotten the scathing criticism levelled against her by Raja and other leaders of the CPI during the 2004 and 2006 lok Sabha and Assembly elections respectively, he said.
The General Council of the AIADMK is meeting at Chennai on Saturday to finalise the strategy for the Rajya Sabha election. Though the CPI’s national leaders like AB Bardan and secretary Sudhakar Reddy are in town, they are yet to get an appointment with Jayalalithaa.