Star Candidate: SU Venkatesan / CPM

CHENNAI: Su Venkatesan (54) is a State Secretariat member of the CPM and a Sahitya Akademy-winning writer contesting from Madurai seat, a sitting MP contesting for a second term. Venkatesan who has been a full- time party worker of CPM for over three decades, shot to fame when he won the Sahitya Akademy Award for his first novel, Kaval Kottam which captured 600 years of history of Madurai between 1310 and 1920 AD. Tamil film Aravaan, by film maker Vasantha Balan, is based on one of the novel’s subplots and he was a script- writer for the film.

Su Venkatesan has authored 20 books including Veerayuga Nayagan Velpari, four collections of poetry, book on Vaigai river Civilisation. He has been at the forefront of the strug- gle to ensure the continuation of the Keezhadi excavation work in Tamil Nadu, which is considered a proof of Tamil civilisation, on the banks of the Vaigai. He wrote several articles and delivered speeches on the issue. He has contributed to research on the so- cio-cultural history and practices of the Tamil people. He has worked on various fronts to promote a radical understanding of the politics of art.

For the past five years as a Member of Parliament from the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency, he raised his voice in Parlia- ment for the people of Madurai district, for the development of Tamil Nadu and the rights of the Tamil language. He was suc- cessful in various problems raised by him against the imposition of Hindi, employment related issues, and non-allocation of adequate funds to the State including rail- way works, long-delayed AIIMS Hospital works and Rs 500 crore in providing educa- tion loans to poor and needy students.

Venkatesan joined CPM through the Democratic Youth Federation of India. He played an active part in the Uthapuram struggle to demolish the untouchability wall in Madurai district. He was the CPM candidate for the Tirupparankundram Assembly seat in 2006, but lost the polls.