With the selection of two veterans, K.P. Munusamy and M. Thambi Durai, being strongly considered by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for two of the three Rajya Sabha seats, the spotlight is on who will be the third nominee.
Several names are doing the rounds within the party as allies — the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and the New Justice Party (NJP) — are said to be pressuring Chief Minister and the party co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami for the third slot.
Several contenders
DMDK’s deputy general secretary L.K. Sudheesh, TMC’s chief G.K. Vasan and NJP founder A.C. Shanmugam, who contested on the AIADMK symbol in Vellore last year, are the aspirants.
Among those who are in contention within the AIADMK are V. Maitreyan, P.H. Manoj Pandian and P. Venugopal, former Members of Parliament; Natham R. Viswanathan and Gokula Indira, who were Ministers in the Jayalalithaa Cabinet during 2011-16, and J.C.D. Prabhakar, who was elected twice from Villivakkam Assembly constituency.
Vijila Sathyananth, whose term is getting over as Rajya Sabha member, is making a strong bid for renomination.
Apart from these names, Mr. Palaniswami and the AIADMK’s co-coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, will have to consider many factors such as caste, ability to be resourceful at the time of Assembly elections, track record and oratorical skills in English, while choosing the nominees.
Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had adopted such a yardstick while picking her candidates either for the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. This explains the repeated selection of Mr. Thambi Durai, Dr. Maitreyan, Mr Manoj Pandian and Dr. Venugopal.
Some members are asking questions whether the party is going to get benefited by choosing members of dominant communities such as Kongu Vellalars and Vanniyars.
They are saying that these two communities were not backing the party as solidly as they did in the past. They place Mukkalathors too in the same league as in the case of the other two, despite the community getting accommodated “adequately” within the party hierarchy.
The case that these members of the party are making is that enough opportunities should be given to communities which are numerically small.
There are reports that leaders of such communities are being wooed by the Dravida Munentra Kazhagam (DMK) and admirers of actor Rajinikanth, who is planning to launch a political party soon.
‘Small castes rewarded’
Countering the argument of this section of the party those who support the present leadership of the party recall the choice of A. Mohammedjan and N. Chandrasegharan for two RS seats in July last year to underscore that even now, representatives of smaller communities continue to be “rewarded.”
The AIADMK’s decision to field Mr. Mohammedjan, former Minister and a Muslim from the Vellore district, had to be seen against the backdrop that it was being labelled as “B team” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Chandrasegharan belongs to the Arundathiyar community a marginalised group within Scheduled Castes (SC).
Even as the debate goes on within the party, according to a senior leader who says that around 100 persons are keen on securing nomination for the three seats, the final decision on three candidates will be out in a couple of days.
