DINDIGUL: Former MP K Maya Thevar, who played a key role in the AIADMK embracing the two-leaves symbol, died owing to age-related ailments at his residence in Dindigul’s Chinnalapatti on Tuesday. He was 88. His funeral will be held at 4 pm on Wednesday.
Maya Thevar was the candidate for the first-ever Lok Sabha election faced by the AIADMK after former chief minister MG Ramachandran floated the party in 1972. He chose the two-leaves symbol for seeking a mandate from Dindigul constituency and won the polls with a margin of over 1.45 lakh votes against DMK’s Pon Muthuramalingam in May 1973.
Later, he left AIADMK owing to differences with MGR and joined the DMK. He again won from the Dindigul constituency in 1980, but lost parliamentary elections in 1984 and 1991. Subsequently, he stayed away from active politics. Maya Thevar is survived by wife KM Saraswathi, daughter KM Sumathi and son KM Senthil Kumar aka Vetri Tamilan, now attached to the O Panneerselvam faction.
Minister I Periyasamy and AIADMK Treasurer Dindigul C Sreenivasan paid floral tributes. O Panneerselvam said party flags would be flown at half-mast for three days to mourn the death. AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala expressed condolences to the bereaved family.