Congress names 9 candidates; tussle continues for Sivaganga

Congress has announced candidates for nine parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Image used for representational purpose (File | PTI)
Image used for representational purpose (File | PTI)

CHENNAI: Congress has announced candidates for nine parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. According to sources, a tough fight between the followers of former Union ministers P Chidambaram and Sudarsana Natchiappan has forced the party high command to delay the announcement of candidate for Sivanganga seat. Congress had been allotted 10 seats in the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The DMK had announced the constituencies from where Congress candidates will contest, on March 15. After nine days after identification of constituencies, Congress announced its candidates in the wee hours of Saturday.

The party has fielded S Thirunavukkarasar for Tiruchirappalli constituency, A Chellakumar in Krishnagiri, K Jayakumar for Thiruvallur (Reserved), M K Vishnu Prasad for Arani,   B Manick Tagore for Virudhunagar, S Jothimani for Karur, EVKS Elangovan for Theni and H Vasantha Kumar for Kanniyakumari.  Besides, V Vaithilingam will be fielded in Puducherry.

According to party sources, “Karti Chidambaram wanted to get Sivaganga seat either for himself or his wife. But, former Union minister Sudarsana Natchiappan demanded that the seat should be given to him as he said the Sivaganga seat was given to Chidambaram since 1984. Chidambaram had been elected from the parliament constituency for six times on Congress ticket and two times on TMC (Moopanar) ticket. Hence, Sudarsana Natchiappan wanted the high command to offer the seat to him. Unable to settle the issue amicably between followers of Chidambaram and Sudarsana Natchiappan, the high command has not announced the candidate for Sivaganga.”

A party functionary who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Karti Chidambaram is an eligible candidate and he is the only person who had secured more than one lakh votes in Sivaganga parliamentary seat when he contested in 2014 when the party went it alone. Hence, the high command should offer the seat to him.”

However, it is expected that the Congress party will announce the candidate before Sunday night to enable the candidate to file nomination as the last date for filing nomination is Tuesday.

Nine contestants

Congress candidates: S Thirunavukkarasar in Tiruchirappalli, A Chellakumar in Krishnagiri, K Jayakumar in Thiruvallur, M K Vishnu Prasad in Arani,  B Manick Tagore in Virudhunagar, S Jothimani in Karur, EVKS Elangovan in Theni, H Vasantha Kumar in Kanniyakumari and V Vaithilingam in Puducherry

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