The June 27 biennial election to Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu took an interesting turn on Monday with the AIADMK deciding to withdraw one of its five candidates in favour of CPI’s nominee D Raja. At the same time, actor-politician and DMDK chief Vijayakanth announced that Elangovan would be his party nominee for the Rajya Sabha election.
Now, seven candidates will compete for the six seats. The decision of Jayalalithaa to withdraw one of her candidates in favour of the CPI follows an open plea issued by CPI State secretary D Pandian to the former requesting her to support Raja. Monday morning saw Raja calling on the Chief Minister with the request to support him.
In a sporting gesture, Jayalalithaa asked Thangamuthu, one of the AIADMK nominees to withdraw from the race which gave instant relief to the CPI.
In a statement she said following request by CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, former general secretary AB Bardhan, and State secretary D Pandian, to support Raja, AIADMK’s Parliamentary Board has decided to back his candidature.
The four nominees of the AIADMK and the CPI candidate are assured of victory as each candidate needs 34 votes to win. The AIADMK has 151 members of its own. It has the support of four alliance partners and the 18-member left block.
The seven member DMDK rebels are expected to vote for the AIADMK nominees. The DMK’s candidate Kanimozhi is yet to mobilise the numbers. The party has 23 members in the House. Even if the Congress (five members) and the PMK (three) support the DMK, it has to find out six more votes to reach the winning mark of 34.
Monday was the last day for filing of nomination papers and scrutiny will take place on Tuesday. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 20.