Tamil Nadu: Wilson rewarded, Kamal honoured; DMK’s 4 RS candidates set for election

CHENNAI:Candidates of the DMK-led INDIA bloc, including Makkal Needhi Maiam president and actor Kamal Haasan, filed their nominations for the June 19 biennial Rajya Sabha polls on Friday.

Senior advocate P Wilson, poet Salma and Salem district secretary SR Sivalingam of the DMK & actor Kamal Haasan filed their nomination papers with the returning officer and additional secretary of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, B Subramaniyam, at the Assembly Secretariat around noon on Friday.

Chief Minister MK Stalin, his deputy Udhayanidhi Stalin, senior DMK ministers and leaders, along with Congress state president K. Selvaperunthagai, were present during the filing of nominations.

With the ruling DMK-led secular progressive alliance having enough MLAs in its kitty, the victory of the four candidates in the election to the upper house of the Parliament would be a mere formality.

While Wilson would be re-nominated for the second consecutive tenure, thanks to his extraordinary performance as a parliamentarian in the incumbent tenure, the DMK high command has nominated first-timers Salma and Sivalingam to reward their loyalty to the party. Salma and Sivalingam replace incumbent MPs Shanmugham, general secretary of the DMK trade union wing LPF, and Pudukottai MM Abdulla, who preferred to flex his political muscle in the State during next year's Assembly polls instead of returning to the Rajya Sabha.

In nominating Kamal Haasan, the DMK has also honoured the poll commitment it made to the MNM during the Parliament polls last year, which cost Vaiko's MDMK dearly. The vain hopes of the MDMK to see a re-nomination for its leader evaporated after the DMK put its foot down and stuck to its plans.

Elsewhere in the opposition camp, where the RS nomination threatened to nearly derail a fragile alliance between the principal opposition party and DMDK, candidates of the AIADMK, Inbadurai and Dhanapal, also filed their nominations on Friday.