Chennai: Pushed to a corner and pinning his hopes on the legal battle in the supreme court to reclaim his place in the AIADMK, the OPS camp which boycotted the selection process by the party General Council (GC), has decided to extend support and campaign for the candidate of the dominant faction led by former Chief Minister EPS.
The Election Commission (EC) had allotted the AIADMK party symbol, 'Two Leaves', to KS Thennarasu, fielded by the EPS camp. The Returning Officer for Erode East constituency has been directed of the EC's decision, leading to jubilation in the EPS faction. Having secured the symbol after a legal fight, Thennarasu is filing his papers on Tuesday, the last day for filing nominations.
Making a virtue out of necessity, OPS on Monday morning said Senthil Murugan, a greenhorn, fielded by him will withdraw his nomination in favour of EPS loyalist KS Thennarasu, a local strongman and two-time legislator, who secured the assent of the GC as mandated by the apex court. This decision was taken after Team OPS had a brainstorming earlier in the day.
It was left to former minister KP Krishnan to announce the decision to the media. “It is immaterial as to who has secured the party's nomination for the bypoll. It is the party symbol, 'two leaves' that matters most and we will campaign for the party's victory. The symbol was chosen by party founder 'Puratchi Thalaivar' MGR (MG Ramachandran) and protected by 'Puratchithalaivi' Amma (Jayalalithaa),” he said.
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The supreme court had on Friday last, on a petition from EPS seeking a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to allot the party symbol, had directed that the AIADMK GC should choose the candidate through circular and party presidium chairman, Thamizh Magan Hussain had to submit the decision to the EC. The court had also ordered that OPS and three other leaders, expelled from the party would have the right to vote in this.
Since the deadline for filing of nomination is February 7, the EPS faction swung into action to get the approval of the GC members for Thennarasu. The OPS camp boycotted on the ground that the circular had only the name of Thennarasu, leaving out their candidate. “It is a violation of the spirit of the supreme court order which had vitiated the atmosphere. We are boycotting the selection process,” senior leader of team OPS, Panrutti S Ramachandran had said on Sunday.
It was said that the faction was considering moving the apex court or the EC to register its dissent. However, there was a softening of the stand and a toning down of the rhetoric. It was decided to fall in line as the BJP, an AIADMK ally, too had been pressing for support to the EPS nominee, believed to be a strong candidate to take on veteran Congress leader EVKS Elangovan, backed by the ruling DMK.
Analysts are of the view that the BJP, a marginal player with little electoral relevance, and the OPS faction with no support base in the region, have no other option left. From the beginning, the BJP was not interested in entering the fray.
After submitting the documents to the EC in New Delhi, Hussain said, “Letters of consent were obtained from the GC members as per the direction of the Supreme Court and they were submitted to the EC.” Party veteran C Ve Shanmugham, MP, flanked by Hussain said, “of the 2646 GC members, 2501 have endorsed the candidature of Thennarasu. Only 145 members have not cast their vote. No one had opposed it.” “The OPS camp had not proposed their candidate and hence, it was not included in the circular to secure the assent of the GC members,” he explained.
