CHENNAI: The PMK has announced its first list of three candidates. R Velu (former minister of State for Railways) will contest from Arakkonam, party ideologue Prof M Ramadass will contest from Puducherry and in a major move, for the first time, popular leader Kaduvetti Guru has been given a Lok Sabha ticket from Tiruvannamalai.
Indications are that strong candidates are being fielded by the DMKled coalition in constituencies chosen by the PMK. The DMK is not taking chances and is confronting the PMK directly except at Chidambaram (SC) and Puducherry.
Union shipping and surface transport minister T R Baalu is expected to contest from Sriperumpudur, while Jagath Ratchagan from the Vanniyar community who has joined the DMK is expected to contest from Arakkonam. Chidambaram (SC) has been given to Tirumavalavan. Gingee Ramachandran who recently joined the party from the MDMK is expected to contest from Kallakurichi, while in Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai, candidates are yet to be decided.
Ramadass, a former Registrar of Pondicherry University, Director of Community College and an economics professor-turned politician is the sitting PMK Lok Sabha member from the Puducherry constituency.
He contested the elections for the first time in 1999 as PMK nominee.
However, he lost to M O H Farook of Congress in a three-cornered contest along with P Kannan of TMC (M).
Ramadass who contested the elections in alliance with DMK polled 1,40, 920 (31.73 per cent) votes while Farook who contested with the support of AIADMK polled 1,65,108 (37.1 per cent) votes. Kannan of TMC (M) came a close third by polling 1,11,737 (35.16 per cent) votes.
In 2004, Ramadass contesting the polls in alliance with Congress wrested the seat from BJP’s Lalitha Kumaramangalam who contested in alliance with AIADMK. Ramadass polled 2,41,653 (49.95 per cent) to Kumaramangalam’s 1,72,472 (36.65 per cent). In fact this was PMK’s first victory in Puducherry after contesting the seat five times.
Now the PMK will contest the seat for the first time in alliance with the AIADMK . It is likely to be pitted against Congress and that too in a constituency which has remained a Congress bastion. The party candidates won nine times out of 10 times it contested.
Besides, Ramadass’s performance during the previous term will be an advantage for him. Partymen are convinced that his good image and the respect he earned from leaders of other parties would make the people re-elect him. He is the only member in the outgoing Lok Sabha and perhaps the first Indian MP to submit to the people an annual report of his activities as their representative.
