Six second rung DMK leaders in race for 3 RS seats

At least six players have tossed their hats into the ring for the three seats, one of which would be given to MDMK general secretary Vaiko, as was promised by the principal opposition party during seat sharing talks for the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. Even if the DMK obliges Congress and reserves a seat for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose tenure would end in a month, the party would have one seat, which has drawn the attention of a few big DMK leaders.

M Shanmugham, general secretary of LPF, the labour wing of DMK, legal advisor NR Elango, who is a close confidant of Stalin and deputy general secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeeshan are front runners for the coveted seat. The trio apart, names of Erode district secretary Muthusamy, spokesperson K Radhakrishnan and professor Constantine Ravindran are also doing the rounds for the RS berth. The contenders are sincerely hoping that the Congress does not approach their leadership to return the favour it did in June 2013. Thoothukudi MP elect Kanimozhi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for the second time with the support of Congress then, around three months after the DMK had quit UPA-II. Should the DMK not lose one to the Congress, at least two of the six DMK second rung leaders would make their Parliamentary debut in July. Interaction with DMK insiders revealed that Shanmugham, Elango and Subbulakshmi were the favourites to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

A highly placed DMK source said; “Stalin had picked Elango for Arakkonam in 2014 Parliamentary elections even without him lobbying for it. He should be Stalin’s favourite,” refusing to rule out the possibility of the leadership also ‘rewarding’ Shanmugham who has been holding the labour wing leader post for long. “If the party chooses to give an opportunity to a woman candidate, Subbulakshmi Jagadesshan might also be considered,” the source added, not denying the chance of a surprise candidate being recommended by people close to the leadership at the nick of time.