Cong-DMK swap seats; Gurunathan in PMK list

Congress handed over the Nilgiris constituency,declared reserved after the delimitation,to the DMK,in return for the coastal constituency Cuddalore represented by MoS K Venkatapathy,according to the list released by DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday. After his Perambalur constituency was taken off the reserved list,Raja was on the look out for a safe seat,and will be contesting from Nilgiris (reserved).

PMK founder S Ramadoss’ lieutenant J Gurunathan alias ‘Kaduvetty’ Guru,the Vanniyar Sangam leader whose speech against Raja was cited by DMK as the reason for snapping ties with PMK,will contest the elections from newly-formed Thiruvannamalai,a stronghold of the Vanniyar community. A former MLA who lost in 2006,Guru was detained under NSA charges,and subsequently released on November 26 when Karunanidhi made an effort to patch up with the PMK leadership.

All three seats in the capital city,Chennai North,Central and South were retained by the DMK,and neighbouring Thiruvallur,Sriperumbudur and Arakkonam. In the last two constituencies,the party will face the PMK in the coming elections,apart from Dharmapri and Thiruvannamalai.

Union Minister TR Baalu,who won from South Chennai in the past four elections since 1996,will shift his base to neighbouring Sriprumbudur,as his constituency was substantially redrawn in the delimitation exercise. This being the place where former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991,a section of Congress men had raised the demand for Sriperumbudur,now represented by DMK’s A Krishnaswamy.

MoS Railways R Velu of PMK will seek his luck again from Arakkonam,from where he had won with over one lakh majority when his party was with UPA in 2004.

As DMK is contesting from Madurai,speculations are rife that the candidate could be DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s elder son MK Azhagiri,who had shifted base to the temple town few years ago. Azhagiri’s daughter Kayalvizhi’s name is also doing the rounds.

Union ministers P Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyar will contest from their sitting seats Sivaganga and Myladuthurai respectively. For yet another MoS EVKS Elangovan,however,the nearest options are Tirupur and Erode,two new constituencies,after the delimitation wiped off his Gobichettipalayam constituency.

As expected,the lone seat in Puducherry has gone back to the Congress,where it will face M Ramadoss of the PMK who is seeking re-election.

VCK leader Thol Thirumaavalavan,who had caused problems in UPA with his statements against the Congress party on Sri Lankan Tamil issue,will face PMK candidate from Chidambaram reserved constituency.

Last time,PMK candidate E Ponnuswamy had defeated Thirumaavalavan when he contested as a JD (U) candidate against UPA. But relation between PMK leader S Ramadoss and Thirumaavalavan has since undergone a sea change in the five years,both realising the value of complementing each other politically and during elections.

VCK will also contest from Villupuram,while IUML has been given Vellore,a constituency with sizable Muslim population.

Opposition ally MDMK,which has been weakened by an erosion of leaders and cadres to the DMK,was reportedly unhappy with the share. Last time it had won all four seats contested as a DMK ally. After Vaiko switched camps to be AIADMK’s ally,two of his MPs returned to parent DMK,followed by three MLAs including MDMK presidium chairman M Kannappan recently.

CPI will contest from North Chennai,Nagapattinam and Tenkasi,the last being its sitting seat. North Chennai has a good number of working class voters,which,coupled with AIADMK’s muscle,could work to the Left party’s favour.

Those having worked out the alliance formula will begin intra-party discussions in the coming days to finalise their list of candidates,a formidable challenge considering the hundreds of aspirants for the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone one in Puducherry.