BJP-backer T R Pachamuthu moves over to DMK side

CHENNAI: Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi chief and SRM chancellor T R Pachamuthu switched allegiance from BJP and called on DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday to pledge his party’s support to the DMK-Congress alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. Pachamuthu, who was a staunch BJP backer, walked out of the AIADMK-BJP alliance after PMK joined it.

“We decided to come out of the BJP alliance after PMK joined the group. PMK has been giving all sort of problems to our party as well as to the party leaders and we are not ready to hold hands with them in any alliance,” Pachamuthu told reporters at the DMK headquarters after meeting Stalin and other leaders. While Pachamuthu is keen on contesting the election, it is not sure yet if the IJK leader would be given a ticket or promise of a Rajya Sabha seat.

The DMK’s second round of talks with the CPI, CPM, MDMK and VCK is expected to re-start from Sunday. “With the Election Commission likely to announce the schedule in the coming week, the party wants to finalise seat-sharing with alliance parties.

Meanwhile, in a bid to show off their loyalty, there’s a rush by DMK partymen to file applications on behalf of senior leaders as well as former party MPs.

Rajya Sabha MP and the DMK’s women’s wing leader Kanimozhi, party principal secretary T R Baalu and former telecom minister and propaganda secretary A Raja have benefitted from benevolence of partymen. This has been the norm in both AIADMK and DMK. With four days to go for filing applications, the DMK leader-aspirants too are expected to file their applications.

“We learnt that Kanimozhi is likely to contest from Tuticorin and we wanted to file applications on her behalf,” said a DMK cadre from Tuticorin who filed an application in her name. “She has visited Tuticorin several times in the past few months and toured the constituency. Recently, she also participated in grama sabha meetings convened by the party in the constituency,” said the partyman, seeking anonymity.

Baalu is keen on Sriperumbudur and Raja Nilgiris. While the cost of each application is Rs 1000, the applicant also pays Rs 25,000 at the time of filing it. “Most of the DMK leaders, who were MPs or Union ministers, are keen to contest in the Lok Sabha elections and are likely to get tickets,” said a senior DMK leader.