No room yet for Left

Chennai: Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Monday released the list of AIADMK candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, retaining three sitting MPs — M. Thambidurai (Karur), Dr. P. Venugopal (Tiruvallur) and P. Kumar (Tiruchi), and giving tickets to eight former MLAs but largely going in for new faces with good academic qualifications.

However, she did not disclose the list of Left candidates (with whom discussions were still on) but said her party canddidates would
withdraw as and when there was an agreement with the CPI and CPM. The three parties had recently joined announced an alliance for the
Lok Sabha elections but Jaya's announcement without any room for the Left indicated strains in ties between the AIADMK and the Left
parties.

With Jayalalithaa also announcing her campaign schedule, the Left will have little option except to take it or leave it. Speculation is rife that the CPI an CPM would get only one seat each while they are insisting on a minimum of three to four seats each. Jayalalitha's announcement indicates that the AIADMK is exasperated with the Left's high demand and that there was little room for a patch-up at this stage.

The sitting AIADMK MPs who were not re-nominated were C. Rajendran (South Chennai), S. Semmalai (Salem), C. Sivasami (Tirupur), K.
Sugumar (Pollachi), O.S. Manian (Mayiladuthurai) and K. Anandan (Villupuram)

Among the 40 candidates, are four doctors and 15 lawyers. The AIADMK has fielded a large number of postgraduates, some of whom are
also lawyers.

The four women candidates are: Maragatham Kumaravel (Kancheepuram); R Vanaroja (Tiruvannamalai); V. Sathyabhama (Tirupur) and
Vasanthi Murugesan (Tenkasi) -- wife of former AIADMK MP, Murugesan, elected twice from Tenkasi.

Chennai will have an entirely new set of AIADMK candidates -- former Speaker D. Jayakumar's son J. Jayavardhan, who is doing MD
(general medicine) at Sri Ramachandra University here, is contesting the South Chennai seat;  T. G. Venkatesh Babu, TIDCO chairman, is
the candidate for North Chennai and the party's student wing secretary S. R. Vijayakumar for Central Chennai.

Former Minister and the party’s minority wing secretary A. Anwar Raja gets a ticket.

P. R. Sundaram, former floor leader in the Assembly, will seek election from Namakkal. He had won in 1996 and 2001.

Among former MLAs given tickets are G. Hari (Tirutani from 2006-2011); M. Chandrakasi (Varahur) and A. Arunmozhithevan
(Chidambaram).

Deputy Mayor of Madurai Corporation R. Gopalakrishnan and C. Gopalakrishnan, chairperson of the Coonoor municipality, will fight the
elections from Madurai and The Nilgiris respectively.

In the Union Territory of Puducherry, the party has nominated former MLA, M.V. Omalingam.