CHENNAI, TIRUVARUR: Fan clubs of actor Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of DMK president M K Stalin, on Thursday urged the party to field him in the Tiruvarur by-election. Brick kiln owner and president of Udhayanidhi fans club in Tiruvarur MP Edison submitted the application spending `25,000 from his pocket. Addressing media, he said Udhayanidhi endeared himself to the people when he visited Tiruvarur in the aftermath of cyclone Gaja and distributed relief material worth `50 lakh.  

“Ever since by-elections were announced, I have been receiving phone calls from Udhayanidhi fans as well as general public in Tiruvarur expressing desire to have him as their candidate,” Edison told Express. He added there were 180 Udhayanidhi fan clubs in Tiruvarur town and 500 across the district. 

Of late, Udhayanidhi has been a very visible presence at protests and meetings organised by the DMK.
Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, DMK MLA and president of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Fans Welfare Association, however, apparently distancing himself from the nomination, clarified that the club had not told any fan to submit application for Udhayanidhi. 

“We didn’t ask them (to nominate Udhayanidhi Stalin). They have submitted the application on their own and want to see their thalaivar (leader, referring to Udhayanidhi Stalin) as an MLA from Tiruvarur. That’s all,” he told Express. 

A party insider said,  “It is a tactic to create hype over Udhayanidhi before offering  him the party ticket. After refusing the ticket one or two times, automatically the cadre will be ready to accept him without raising any questions.”

DMK’s Tiruvarur district youth wing functionary Rajini Chinna said, “Kalaignar was the son of the soil. The people of Tiruvarur are in grief over the demise of the leader. As a sign of gratitude, they would vote for any DMK candidate. If it is Udhayanidhi, they would definitely vote for him and see him win by a huge margin.”

Tharasu Shyam, a veteran journalist, opined, “I think that still there is confusion in the DMK camp to identify the right candidate. Hence, these kinds of tactics are being carried out by the party. They are suggesting Udhayanidhi can get the huge attention of the voters which can’t be achieved by a local candidate as the by-election for a single Assembly seat would be considered as the high-profile election.” Party sources said Poondi Kalaivanan has the best chances of getting the party ticket to contest the bypoll. On social media, trolls got busy with this development. Memes flooded Facebook and WhatsApp, criticising the political emergence of another family member of Karunanidhi. 

Speaking to Express, S Kaliyaperumal, Amma Peravai town secretary, who has applied for an AIADMK ticket, said, “All family members of Karunanidhi camped in Tiruvarur for many days campaigning for the 2016 election. After that, the people of Tiruvarur never saw them. They did not camp here to extend a helping hand to cyclone-affected people. If Udhayanidhi is the DMK candidate, then it would make the AIADMK’s victory an easy one.”

Rivals may name candidate on Friday
Chennai: The ruling AIADMK and AMMK led by TTV Dhinakaran are likely to announce their candidates on Friday evening for the Tiruvarur by-election. At the AIADMK parliamentary board meeting that is to be held on Friday, the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister are likely to announce the party candidate.

Cong, CPM extend support to DMK
Chennai: Congress and CPM have extended their support to DMK for the Thiruvarur by poll scheduled for January 28. Congress, the major partner of DMK-led alliance, has declared its support to DMK for the byelection. Similarly, CPM has also extended its support to the party. DMK is now set to face the bye-poll with the support of six parties.