ARIYALUR: The family of late MBBS aspirant Anitha condemned the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for announcing one of the girl's brothers as their MLA candidate for Kunnam, an Assembly constituency in Perambalur district. Anitha's father and another elder brother were urging the party to announce an alternative candidate to replace him.
S Pandian (27), who is announced as the candidate, is said to be involved with the party for just over an year. The family said that BSP was not active in the movement against NEET in the State and just wanted to use Anitha's brother to garner votes.
The late teen girl's elder brother S Manirathinam said, "It is only opportunistic that they have brought my brother into politics." Following the party's announcement of fielding Pandian as the candidate, Anitha's another brother Manirathnam shared a post against the move on social media.
Speaking to Express, Manirathinam said, "Pandian was not politically active for a long time after Anitha's death. Only I was involved; that was from even before Anitha's death. However, I have been supporting the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). We have nothing to do with BSP and they actually saw me as an 'enemy'. They are just striving to act against me. To spark a conflict in the family, they have declared my brother as a candidate, he said.
When contacted, BSP Perambalur District President C Anandhan said, "After Anitha's death we have been raising awareness against NEET among the youth in every village almost every day."