T.N. Assembly election: AIADMK releases second list of candidates, retains 30 sitting legislators

The AIADMK on Friday released its second list of candidates, numbering 127, for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly election. Till now, the party has named 150 candidates including 23 in the first list.

According to the the second list released by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, 25 sitting MLAs were retained and 10 others were dropped. The list also contained 16 women candidates. Prominent among those who did not figure in the list were former Ministers V. Saroja, V.M. Rajalakshmi, Vaigaichelvan, and ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan, all of whom lost in the 2021 election.

Ex-Ministers on the list

Former Ministers who made it to the list included N. Thalavai Sundaram, M.C. Sampath, Be. Vee. Ramanah, V. Somasundaram, P. Balakrishna Reddy, Mukkur N. Subramanian, M.S.M. Anandan, Pollachi V. Jayaraman, S.P. Shanmuganathan, and S.T. Chellapandian. The sole AIADMK’s legislator in the Kancheepuram-Tiruvallur-Chengalpattu-Chennai belt, Maragatham Kumaravel, has been renominated for Madurantakam.

An interesting feature of the list was the inclusion of P. Saravanan, who in 2021 contested in the AIADMK-led front as a nominee of the BJP in Madurai (North). This time too, he is trying his luck from the same seat. Likewise, I. Mahendran, who has been chosen by the Dravidian major, contested in 2021 as the nominee of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), now an ally of the AIADMK.

EPS hits out at Stalin

Later in the day, Mr. Palaniswami criticised the DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for not being able to conclude the process of identification of constituencies for constituents of the DMK-led front.

Addressing the gathering on MGR Salai in Nanganallur of the Alandur Assembly constituency, Mr. Palaniswami recalled Mr. Stalin would claim his coalition was “strong.” But, the seat-sharing process had not been completed as yet in the DMK camp despite negotiations going on for 25 days. On the other hand, “we held talks only for four days and concluded them swiftly,” he observed.

Referring to the response of Ministers to his criticism that the AIADMK did not “exert pressure” on its allies to put up candidates on its symbol, the AIADMK leader said the Ministers could, however, not answer his point.

Mr. Palaniswami criticised the DMK’s allies for not “raising people’s issues” in the Assembly. Yet, such allies were given less number of seats this time. But, as soon as the election was over, the AIADMK’s allies would highlight the problems of the public. “This is our alliance dharma,” he clarified.

On the observation that he had been facing electoral setbacks successively, the AIADMK chief recalled that when M. Karunanidhi was the DMK president, his party could not even get the status of the Leader of the Opposition.

Remarks against Vijay

Later, participating at another event in Tambaram Assembly constituency, he alluded to the Karur stampede in which 41 persons died while witnessing a rally addressed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam founder Vijay. He said ordinarily, those who wanted to condole the death of individuals would visit the families of the deceased. But, a person had invited to his place the families of those who had died in the course of going out and watching him.

“This is what cinema is. This can be observed in feature films. We can watch films and enjoy them. But, we have to leave them as they are. Real life is different from the reel life,” Mr. Palaniswami said, calling upon the youth to ponder over the transient nature of what was shown in films.