AIADMK, DMK to face off on 8 seats

THE DMK RELEASED ITS LIST FOR LS POLLS, FIELDING KANIMOZHI, AND FORMER UNION MINISTERS A RAJA, DAYANIDHI MARAN

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) will be up against its arch-rival, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in just eight of Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. The two parties released their lists of candidates for the national polls on Sunday.

The eight seats are Salem, Pollachi, Tiruvannamalai, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Mayiladuthurai, Kanchipuram, and South Chennai.

Indiya Jananayaga Katchi (Perambalur) and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (Namakkal) will contest one seat each on ally DMK’s rising sun symbol. Likewise, the Puthiya Needhi Katchi (Vellore) will fight a seat using two leaves symbol of its alliance partner AIADMK. The two arch-rivals will be up against each other in 11 Lok Sabha seats if the three seats are also taken into account.

The AIADMK is contesting 20 seats. Among its allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest five and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) seven seats. The DMK, too, is contesting 20. DMK’s allies like the Congress will contest the rest.

The Congress will take on national rival, the BJP, in Kanyakumari and Sivaganga. The AIADMK faces Congress in Arani, Krishnagiri, Tiruvallur, Theni, Karur seats.

The AIADMK released its list for LS seats and 18 vacant assembly seats late on Sunday. The party has fielded Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai from Karur. The AIADMK has fielded 15 new face candidates this time. Its ally PMK also released its first list of candidates for five seats.

AIADMK co-ordinator and deputy chief minister, O Pannerselvam, said their alliance will sweep the elections. “We have formed a mega alliance. We will win all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry,” he said.

The DMK released its list of candidates for the LS polls, fielding chief MK Stalin’s half-sister, Kanimozhi, along with former Union ministers A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran, TR Baalu and SS Palanimanickam.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court acquitted Raja and Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum scandal in 2017. The CBI last year challenged their acquittal in the Delhi high court.

A special CBI court in 2017 discharged Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran in a case in which the former telecom minister and his brother were accused of forcing entrepreneur C Sivasankaran to sell his stake in telecom company Aircel to Maxis of Malaysia in a quid pro quo transaction.

AIADMK rebel leader, TTV Dhinakaran, has also released his Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam’s first list of candidates for 24 Lok Sabha seats.