Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol Thirumaavalavan on Wednesday announced himself and party general secretary D Ravikumar as party candidates for Chidambaram and Tiruvallur constituencies for the forthcoming Parliament elections.
He also urged the Left parties to lend support to the DMK-led front in the seats that they would not be contesting in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Thirumaavalavan also released his party’s manifesto. As was expected, Thirumaavalavan would be the VCK candidate in the Chidambaram (SC) constituency, where he is incumbent. This would make it the third time in a row that he contests the Lok Sabha polls from the constituency. He had won the contest in 2009, with a whopping margin of over 98,000 votes, and had lost in his 2004 attempt.
Contesting on the VCK ticket from the Tiruvallur (SC) constituency would be party general secretary D Ravikumar. Considered to be among the ideologues of the Dalit party, the former bank official had earlier represented the Kattumannarkoil (SC) constituency in the Tamil Nadu Assembly from 2006 to 2011, and had lost his re-election bid in 2011. He will be pitted against incumbent, AIADMK’s Dr P Venugopal.
The Tiruvallur constituency is outside the VCK’s traditional sphere of influence, and had been allotted to the Dalit party by the DMK after intense wrangling.
The VCK had expressed preference for the Villupuram (SC) or Kanchipuram (SC) constituencies, but the DMK has firmly held on to them.
Thirumaavalavan also released his party’s manifesto, which declared that the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was a battle between communalism and democracy.
The document also noted that the backdrop of the polls in Tamil Nadu presented a ‘dangerous situation’, as supposedly secular parties had been unable to find common ground and were facing the elections in isolation.
The manifesto featured a number of policy priorities specific to the Dalit constituency of the party.
Among the notable promises were the push for reservation in private sector jobs for Dalits, assurance of protection of the rights and interests of minorities, implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and Mishra Committee reports, welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and the increase in the number of days of employment under the NREGS among others.