CHENNAI: Proving speculations true, the ruling TVK on Wednesday decided against making its debut to the Rajya Sabha and instead allotted the seat to the Congress, a key ally that has five MLAs supporting the State government.
That is, despite its poor performance, winning only 5 of the 27 seats it contested, the recent Assembly polls has proven to be a beneficial season for the Congress, having netted two Cabinet posts, one RS seat that it wrangled from its then ally, the DMK, during seat-sharing talks, and now another one from the latest partner.
TVK chief and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay made the formal announcement shortly after an hour-long discussion with Tamil Nadu Congress in-charge Girish Chodankar at the Secretariat, and a day after a one-on-one meeting between senior Congress leader P Chidambaram.
Though Congress is yet to announce its candidate, All India Professionals’ Congress chairperson Praveen Chakravarty, among the most vocal proponent of a tie-up between Congress and TVK ahead of the election, is likely to be one. Sources said TVK agreed to part with the seat on condition that the national party would field him.
Though it had initially explored the possibility of fielding a candidate to mark its Rajya Sabha entry and even considered several names, including a Kollywood personality and a senior leader who came over to the party, it finally decided to give in to pressure from the Congress.
Sources indicated that TVK insisted that the Congress should field a candidate acceptable to both parties. That is where Chakravarthy comes in as a frontrunner, as he is viewed favourably by both the Congress and TVK leadership.
Political observers noted that if he emerges as the candidate as expected, it would be a sweet payback for Chakravarty, who had eyed Mayiladuthurai Lok Sabha seat in 2024, but could not land it due to objections raised by the DMK leadership, which was livid at him over his suspected role in the lead of an alleged audio clip that cornered the first family.
The nomination process has already begun for the Rajya Sabha bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam who won from Mailam Assembly seat. The last date for filing nominations is June 8. If required, polling for the by-election will be held on June 18.