CHENNAI: Bringing an end to the days long wrangling at various levels, the BJP on Friday announced candidates for all 27 Assembly constituencies it will contest in Tamil Nadu, but set off another row by leaving out former State president K Annamalai and his loyalists.
The list cleared by the party’s central election committee features Union Minister L Murugan from Avinashi (SC) and Tamilisai Soundararajan from Mylapore. State unit chief Nainar Nagenthran will contest from Sattur instead of his native Tirunelveli that he is representing now, while Mahila Morcha national president and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan has moved to Coimbatore North.
MR Gandhi MLA, will contest again from Nagercoil. But sitting MLA C Saraswathi has been dropped, citing age as a factor, and her daughter-in-law, Kirthika Shivkumar, has been fielded in her place from Modakurichi. Former Congress MLA S Vijayadharani has been fielded from Vilavancode and Ananthan Ayyasamy from Vasudevanallur (SC).
Sources said the selections were guided by intelligence inputs and constituency-level feedback. “The list was prepared based on Intelligence Bureau inputs and detailed ground reports,” a senior functionary told DT Next.
While the release of the list was supposed to end the negotiations, it may not end the tensions within due to the decision to keep Annamalai and his close supporters away.
Annamalai had tried for the Coimbatore North seat, which eventually went to Vanathi. “The leadership was not inclined to field him from that constituency,” said another leader, who has been given a ticket. Several of his loyalists, including AP Muruganandam, Amar Prasad Reddy, and A Ashvathaman, have also been denied nominations. Senior figures such as Pon Radhakrishnan, R Sarathkumar, P Karthiyayini, and Kushboo Sundar are among those left out.