TENKASI: TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK has fielded A S Ponnuthayi, former union chairman of Rajapalayam and party’s women wing joint secretary of Virudhunagar (west) district as its candidate in Tenkasi (SC) parliament constituency.
According to the biodata shared by the AMMK functionaries, Ponnuthayi is married to S Suresh and has completed MA (History) in the Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. The couple hailing from Rajapalayam has two children. Belonging to Hindu/Pallar community, the 32-year-old Ponnuthayi is running a textile shop in Rajapalayam.
Ponnuthayi’s tenure as the union chairman between 2011 and 2016 was surrounded by several controversies. In 2012, supporters of her and then Rajapalayam MLA K Gopalasamy were involved in a clash in which her father Alagapuriyan, the then panchayat president of Melapattam Karisalkulam, and few other allegedly suffered stab injuries.
Over a period of time, Ponnuthayi and her father Alagapuriyan turned against each other due to the issues occurred in the allocation of various contracts. In 2015, about 46,500 eggs that were brought to the godown of the union for distributing to the school students were stolen by someone. Both Ponnuthayi and Alagapuriyan blamed each other of stealing the eggs. The police had to register a case to find out the culprit after the intervention of the district Collector.
Speaking to Express, Ponnuthayi said that her main focus would be in resolving water shortage issue being faced by the farmers of Tenkasi constituency. “AMMK will soon release a manifesto, in which the demands of the voters of Tenkasi would have also been added. I will construct check-dams wherever required and facilitate the groundwater recharge which will benefit the farmers,” she added.
Talking about the egg theft case, she said that the case was closed after the police found out that contractor of the egg only took back the eggs from the godown.