No tie-up,DMDK to go it alone in bypoll

The seat went vacant after the death of state minister C Karuppasamy barely five months after winning the Assembly polls last year.

Belying speculation about a possible realignment of forces in the opposition camp to take on the AIADMK,led by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa,the main opposition party,DMDK,announced its candidate for the coming bypoll in Sankarankoil,making it a multi-cornered contest with at least four parties having jumped into the fray so far.

The seat went vacant after the death of state minister C Karuppasamy barely five months after winning the Assembly polls last year.

Following the bitter spat between one-time allies,Jaya and DMDK founder Vijayakant,both sides had challenged each other to prove their mettle in the coming election by contesting without being part of any alliance.

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What gave rise to the speculation about a possible joining of forces between the DMK and DMDK was a chance meeting between Vijayakant and former deputy CM M K Stalin at the Madurai airport a week ago,where they spoke in private before leaving for Chennai.

Though premature,the rumour was not baseless as DMK chief M Karunanidhi tacitly explored the opportunity by stating on Sunday that his party would consider the possibility of fielding a common candidate if other parties were on board. This despite the DMK interviewing and finalising J Jawahar Suryakumar as its prospective candidate on Friday.

The election on March 18 has S Muthuselvi of the AIADMK,Jawahar Suryakumar of the DMK,K Muthukumar of the DMDK and former MLA Sathan Thirumalaikumar of the MDMK pitted against each other.