Congress fields EVKS Elangovan in the Erode East bypolls

CHENNAI: In a surprise move, Congress high command on Sunday announced former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan as its candidate for the February 27 Erode (east) by-poll.

In a statement, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik said that the party president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Elangovan who was former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president for the by-poll.

The by-poll was announced by the Election Commission days ago following the recent death of Erode (east) legislator E Thirumahan Everaa, son of Elangovan. The Congress announcement came a day after Elangovan said that he would not contest the by-poll and sough seat for his younger son.

On Sunday, Sanjay Sampath met Congress Tamil Nadu in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao at Sathyamurthy Bhavan expressing his wish to contest in the Erode East by-poll. However, hours after Sanjay's meeting, Congress declared Elangovan as its candidate.

"Congress high command leadership has declared my candidature. I thank them for it. I wanted my younger son (Sanjay) to contest. However, Congress's high command has issued a diktat and I have to obey it, " Elangovan told reporters.

He also thanked chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin for allocating the seat to Congress and other alliance parties for extending their support. He said that he would continue the unfinished works of his son in the constituency. "High command has given me an opportunity to deliver a bigger victory, " he replied to a query. He said that DMK has begun the election works with Ministers Muthusamy and KN Nehru canvassing votes in support of the Congress.

On the question of the AIADMK-BJP alliance, he said that he thinks AIADMK factions might extend support to BJP in the by-poll and it would make Congress victory easier.

Earlier, chief minister Stalin, health minister M Subramanian and Mayor R Priya visited Elangovan's residence at Manapakkam where they were inspecting the ongoing road repair work.