AIADMK to take on Congress in Erode East by-poll

CHENNAI: The AIADMK would field its candidate in the Erode East Constituency by-poll to take the ruling DMK party’s alliance Congress.

Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) leader GK Vasan confirmed that his party would forgo the seat for the best interest of the AIADMK-led alliance. Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar, who met Vasan on Thursday, said that his party can only take on the Congress in the by-poll, thus putting speculations over the February 27 poll to an end.

This spiced up the first by-poll, which was necessitated following the demise of Congress MLA E Thirumahan Everaa, in the 16th Assembly of the state. The DMK allocated the seats to Congress to honour their electoral pact. However, it is going to be the proxy battle between AIADMK and its arch-rival as the Dravidian majors would use their resources to the optimum level to settle the political scores and a prelude to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

It would be a daunting task for the leader of opposition and AIADMK’s ‘interim’ general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and his camp. However, it was an opportunity for Kongu belt strongman to prove his mettle and emerge as undisputed leader, after the late AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.

By deciding to field his candidate in the first by-poll of the 16th Assembly against the strong DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, EPS took the gauntlet to prove many wrong, said party insiders close to EPS.

It is a double-edged sword for the EPS. If he wins the poll or gives a tough fight to DMK and its allies, his stakes would increase manifold. He would emerge as a strong leader and boost the morale of the party functionaries and cadres, who have been witnessing debacles in the polls since the demise of former CM J Jayalalithaa in December 5, 2016, and end the row over leadership in the political arena. However, it could also turn into a political harakiri, as predicted by political pandits, if his candidate loses badly.