CHENNAI: Ahead of the election for three vacant Rajya Sabha seats, which fell vacant following the death or resignation of AIADMK MPs, the second-rung leaders of DMK are intensively lobbying with party's State-level leaders to bag a ticket.
AIADMK MP A Mohammed John died on March 23, and the remaining two MPs KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam resigned their posts after getting elected as members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. By-election for the three Rajya Sabha seats is expected to held at the earliest.
The DMK had recently approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking early conduct of the bypolls, underscoring that a delay of the election impedes Tamil Nadu from being adequately represented in the Rajya Sabha and it goes against the spirit of democracy and constitutional goals enshrined under the Constitution. The petition further urged the ECI to conduct separate by-elections for the three seats.
One of the DMK’s second-rung leaders, who is intensively making efforts to contest for the Rajya Sabha seat, spoke to Express, on condition of anonymity, "Most of the cadre believe that one seat will be reserved for Theni Thanga Tamil Selvan as he needs an adequate position to counter the politics of AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam. Hence, we are all trying for the remaining two tickets."
Another leader from the Kongu region told The New Indian Express, "Most of the cadre in the western region want to send Karthikeya Sivasenathipathi, who contested against AIADMK strongman and former minister SP Velumani in the Assembly polls, to the Rajya Sabha. We expect that it would boost the morale of DMK party cadre in the region."
Meanwhile, the Congress, which was assured a RS seat during the seat-sharing talks for the Assembly polls, expect one ticket for the party. A section of the party cadre, however, believe that Congress may not get a ticket this time as the by-election is not for a full-term in Rajya Sabha.