AMMK’s Thangatamilselvan vs son of OPS, a must watch battle at Theni segment
The AMMK has fielded Thangatamilselvan, a diehard loyalist of TTV Dhinakaran, as the Theni LS candidate against its bete noire AIADMK, which has allotted the seat to Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam’s son Ravindranath, who is making his electoral debut.
By : migrator
Update: 2019-03-22 21:26 GMT
Chennai
The Amma Makkal MunnetraKazhagam (AMMK) on Friday released its second and final list of 14 candidates for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections. The list has raised many eyebrows in the ruling AIADMK camp.
According to AMMK sources, party leader Dhinakaran has planned to play the giant killer strategy and has dispatched his best options to fight against the top candidates fielded by the BJP-AIADMK alliance.
The candidate list threw up many surprises for several party men as Dhinakaran chose to elevate some of the disqualified MLAs to contest for MP seats so that the AMMK can pose a tough fight to AIADMK in Theni, PMK in Dharmapuri and to DMK in Arakkonam.
“We will break the jinx that Theni is the bastion of OPS family. Our leader has pitched an efficient Thangatamilselvan to ensure that OPS’s son is not winning in their native district,” said Sukumar Babu, AMMK south Chennai district secretary.
Similarly, former minister P Palaniappan will give nightmare to PMK leader AnbumaniRamadoss. The party had also elevated NG Parthipan who was disqualified from the SholingurAssembly seat to contest for Arakkonam. He will now fight against DMK heavyweight Jagathratchakan and PMK candidate AK Moorthy in Arakkonam seat.
The AMMK which is contesting 38 of the 39 seats in the state, has allotted Chennai Central constituency to its ally Social Democratic Party of India and also moved the party Central Chennai district secretaryP Santhanakrishnan to contest in north Chennai, which includes high profile RK Nagar and the vacant seat of Perambur.
Dhinakaran also announced the second list of candidates for the April 18 by-elections.
Manifesto talks of Amma motels
Meanwhile, Dhinakaran released the party’s election manifesto for the Lok Sabha and the 18 Assembly bypolls. After releasing the manifesto, he said that AMMK will oppose the BJP and support a secular party at the Centre. “It need not be Congress alone. Even Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati are secular leaders,” he told reporters.
Employment priority for Tamils in state and central services and 80 per cent employment for locals in public sector undertakings and Rs 2 lakh interest-free loan to private sector employees were the major highlights of the manifesto.
The AMMK also announced free tablets for students, Wi fi facilities for all government run colleges, control of cable TV subscription rates and ban on Chinese crackers. Amma motels through women self-help groups and youth and interlinking of rivers were also mentioned in the manifesto.
AMMK candidate vacated seat for Jaya
Thangatamilselvan was an AIADMK MLA who represented Andipatti constituency from 2001 to 2002. The sociology post graduate from Madras University vacated his seat for Jayalalithaa to contest after lifting of stay on her holding constitutional position by the court in 2002. He later won from the same constituency in 2011 and 2016 elections. Thangatamilselvan had represented Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha too. After the demise of Jayalalithaa he put his weight behind VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran. He has been fielded as a Lok Sabha candidate by the AMMK in Theni.
Kala master joins AMMK
The AMMK got a small boost in its star power with popular choreographer Kala Master joining the party. She officially joined the party on Friday in the presence of AMMK deputy general secretary and RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran and former MLA P Vetrivel. Kala, popularly known as ‘Kala Master’, started her career as a choreographer. She has worked with a number of leading filmmakers like KS Ravikumar, Mani Ratnam, Priyadarshan etc.
Former minister in Dharampuri fray
A long-time AIADMK functionary, P Palaniappan from Pappireddipatti was minister for Higher Education in Jayalalithaa’s cabinet. He parted ways with the AIADMK after the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016 and joined forces with TTV Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala. He has been fielded by the AMMK to contest against PMK youth wing leader and Dharmapuri MP Anbumani Ramadoss in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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