Candidates for the AIADMK constituencies in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections have been announced, but no candidates have been announced for the Padmanabhapuram constituency in Kanyakumari district. It is said that there are three reasons for the delay.
One reason is said to be the problem of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam trying to field their own supporter as a candidate.
At the same time, the BJP has also been asking for allocating the Padmanabhapuram constituency instead of Nilgiris.
In the midst of these tug-of-war, it has come to light that Indu Makkal Katchi (IMK) leader Arjun Sampath has been trying for the Padmanabhapuram seat. The entire constituency is buzzing that Arjun Sampath is trying to contest in the Padmanabhapuram constituency and is talking to the AIADMK leadership in this regard.
Speaking to The Commune, Arjun Sampath said that his party is throwing the weight behind the National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming Assembly elections. He stated that they had asked for 5 seats initially but has not been allotted any. However, with the nominations starting, the IMK leader is renegotiating for getting atleast the Padmanabhapuram constituency. “We are ready to contest in the two leaves symbol”, he said.
“The Padmanabhapuram constituency was the BJP’s first constituency in Tamil Nadu. However, before the BJP contested, V. Balachandran had contested and won independently in 1984 with the support of Hindu Munnani in the region. Besides this fact, the Krishna community, which makes up 25% of the 40 per cent Hindus there, and the Hindu Nadar people have always loved me. That is why I am asking for an AIADMK-led seat to contest in the Padmanabhapuram constituency.”, the IMK leader said.
Up until this write up was being written, the AIADMK has not finalized the candidate for the seat.
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