Star candidate: Thanga Tamilselvan/DMK

THENI: Battle-hardened DMK propaganda secretary Thanga Tamilselvan is fighting the "do or die" election of his three-decade-long political career.

A former Parliamentarian and four-time MLA, Thanga Tamilselvan has a point to prove at the hustings, ironically, against his one-time political godfather TTV Dinakaran in native Theni Lok Sabha constituency. Starting his career in AIADMK, he remained loyal to the "Two Leaves" till he joined the breakaway AIADMK faction AMMK led by TTV in the aftermath of Jayalalithaa’s demise in December 2016. Tamilselvan eventually changed loyalty to the DMK in 2019, ending up as one of its propaganda secretaries.

Tamilselvan rose to political prominence more for quitting his MLA post in 2002 than his maiden election victory from Andipatti the year before. His name hit the headlines after he quit the Andipatti MLA post for his then general secretary Jayalalithaa who sought re-election to the Assembly after her conviction in the TANSI case.

Rewarded with a Rajya Sabha nomination the same year, extraordinary rapport with the then influential Mannargudi clan of the AIADMK earned him Theni LS ticket, which he lost to Congress in 2009. Lady luck, however, continued to smile on him as Tamilselvan won the two successive Assembly elections (2011 and 2019) from the same Andipatti. Post-Jayalalithaa power struggle in the AIADMK threw a spanner in the works when the EPS regime got him and 17 other TTV supporting legislators disqualified.

Donning the AMMK hat in the 2019 LS poll, an outspoken Thanga Tamilsevan lost to OP Ravindranath and joined the DMK within a few months. He lost to his bete noire O Panneerselvam in 2021 Assembly polls, this time representing the "Rising Sun".

An outspoken MA degree holding politician not known for pulling punches, Tamilselvan must overpower the fame and resourcefulness of TTV to demonstrate his electoral and political relevance on April 19.