NAGAPATTINAM: Following the DMK-led alliance’s thumping win in the recently-concluded election to Nagapattinam municipality, it’s being awaited whether the civic body’s chairperson seat would be occupied by its former deputy head or the few other front runners. As for Vedaranyam municipality, where too the DMK-led front emerged successful, it’s a tight contest between the sons of two former MLAs.
With the DMK and its allies winning 28 of the 36 wards in Nagapattinam municipality in the February 19 polls, the names of two winners from the party have emerged as the favourites for the chairperson post.
Among them is R Marimuthu (58) who won from Ward 30. Winning the ward councillor post for the third time, Marimuthu was deputy chairperson of Nagapattinam municipality from 2006 to 2011. He is also the party’s Nagapattinam traders' wing organiser.
The other contender is MR Senthil Kumar (49), who won from Ward 7. It is his second term as ward councillor. The DMK's town secretary in Nagore has also played a key role in the party’s traders' wing. As for Vedaranyam municipality, where the DMK and its allies staked claim to 19 of the 21 wards, 'Ma Mee' Pugazhenthi and NVK Raju – both sons of former MLAs– are the top contenders for the chairperson post.
Pugazhenthi, 53, who won from Ward 16, has been the party’s Vedaranyam town secretary for over 20 years. He is also the president of the Vedaranyam Small Scale Salt Producers Federation. His late father Ma Meenakshi Sundaram, popularly known as 'Ma Mee', was a three-time MLA and former municipal chairperson.
NVK Raju (35), who has been elected from Ward 16, is a B Tech and MBA graduate. He is a salt manufacturer-cum-exporter. While his father NV Kamaraj is a former MLA, Raju’s mother NVK Vetriselvi held the municipal chairperson post from 2001 to 2006.