The bypoll from RK Nagar Assembly constituency, a Chennai suburb, scheduled for June 27 has turned into a “battle royale” by Friday despite the decision by the major Opposition parties to stay away from the contest. Even as Chief Minister and the AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa filed her nomination papers on Friday for the bypolls, the CPI, which has considerable influence in Chennai declared that the party would field C Mahendran, its charismatic Assistant State Secretary, as a candidate for the bypoll. Mahendran is supported by all left parties including the CPI(M).
It is reported that with the CPI’s decision to field Mahendran, the opposition parties including the DMK may have to reconsider their decision to boycott the by-poll. Mahendran and the CPI has friends in all major opposition parties including the DMK. D Raja, the national secretary of the CPI , though elected to the Rajya Sabha with the AIADMK support, is more close to DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
Interestingly, the AIADMK, the CPI and the CPI(M) fought the 2011 assembly elections in alliance. later, the AIADMK extended its support to D Raja of the CPI and T K Rangarajan of the CPI(M) during the biennial election to the Rajya Sabha.
Jayalalithaa drove down to the returning officer’s office on Friday accompanied by Sasikala, her close aide much to the delight of thousands of party cadre who thronged the entire stretch from Poes Garden to the office of the returning officer to greet their “Puraitchi Thalaivi (Revolutionary leader, as Jayalalithaa is addressed by the cadre).
The AIADMK general secretary, fresh with a victory in a major legal battle, which almost claimed her political career, is in great form and the general feeling is that she would romp home with a big margin.
What makes the RK Nagar by-poll different is that this is the first time Jayalalithaa is contesting from a Chennai suburb, generally considered as a DMK fortress. By choosing the R K Nagar constituency, Jayalalithaa is giving out a strong challenge to her rivals that her party commands absolute influence all over Tamil Nadu.In the previous elections, Jayalalithaa had contested from the southern, eastern and western regions of Tamil Nadu.
The RK Nagar constituency fell vacant following the resignation of P Vetrivel, the AIADMK member from the House on May 17. Though no official reason was given for the sudden resignation of Vetrivel, it was to facilitate the entry of Jayalalithaa into the House as she had to meet the constitutional requirement of getting elected to the House within six months of being sworn in as chief minister. She had lost both the chief ministership and membership of the House following the Bangalore Special Court verdict sentencing her to four years imprisonment in the Disproportionate Asset case. But the Karnataka High Court acquitted Jayalalithaa of all charges which facilitated her return as the chief minister.
Five independents have filed their nominations from RK Nagar on Wednesday. But they themselves know that their presence would not make any impact in the final outcome. K Padmarajan, one of the candidates in the fray, travel all over the country to file nomination papers from constituencies which go to by-polls.”My mission is to set a world record and be known as the person who has contested the maximum number of elections,” Padmarajan told The Pioneer.