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From Friday evening, reporters covering state politics have been flooded with phone calls from Tamil Nadu Congress Committee members, especially those from Kanyakumari. Their excitement stemmed from the news that the three-time Vilavancode MLA Vijayadharani, who recently resigned from the post and the Congress party to join the BJP, has been denied a ticket by the national ruling party for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll. The cadres even asked reporters to call Vijayadharani to get her reaction on not getting a poll ticket. Rumours were that she had long nurtured a dream to become an MP and the jump to BJP was to fulfil it.
Social media activism on point
Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK) announced S Suriyamurthy as its candidate in Namakkal. In an unexpected turn of events, the party had to replace the candidate after an old video of him making a casteist statement went viral on social media. Soon, it also came to light that there is a case registered against Suriyamurthy in Perumanallur police station near Tiruppur as, during a rally, he had ‘indirectly’ made offensive remarks against a Dalit party and its cadres who entered a Hindu temple in Pongupalayam last year. Suriyamurthy had gone on to announce that if police do not interfere in the issue, the party will take it into their hands.
Enthu-cutlet, as we call it
After much suspense, the PMK on March 19 officially announced its joining of hands with the BJP-led NDA alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Even before the poll pact was signed, the decision became news on the previous day, thanks to an excited party general secretary, Vadivel Ravanan. But reporters were sceptical (and curious) as Ravanan is not usually the media face of the party. He was soon reprimanded by the party leadership as the announcement was made without their approval. Not-so surprisingly, when BJP leaders met PMK founder S Ramadoss at his residence in Thailapuram to sign the poll pact, Ravanan was nowhere to be seen.
We’re Tamils but do we know Tamil?
Recently, in order to issue new identity cards to employees who got transferred, Tangedco asked the staff members to submit applications in both English and Tamil. The task seemed simple until they were asked to write the Tamil equivalents for the names of their respective departments. Who knows the Tamil words for electrical, mechanical and civil engineering? At Tangedco, no one, apparently. Tamil Nadu is a state that gives pre-eminence to its language, where even engineering courses are offered in Tamil and an institution called the Tamil Virtual Academy compiled a dictionary for technical words. Just saying.
(Contributed by S Kumaresan, Saravanan MP, Bagalavan Perier B, S Guruvanmikanathan; compiled by Anagha R Manoj)