Tamil Nadu Election 2021 Live News: AIADMK launches LED screen campaign to woo voters

Tamil Nadu information and publicity minister Kadambur C Raju on Tuesday wondered why AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran is running away from R K Nagar and not contesting there.

The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu has sought to make effective use of technology and launched a campaign through LED screens mounted on four-wheelers to reach out to voters and highlight its various welfare initiatives. AIADMK's Chennai Zone's IT Wing secretary 'Aspire' K Swaminathan said the party plans to take the effort to every nook and corner of the poll-bound state, where elections to 234 Assembly seats are due on April 6. (PTI)

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday appealed to voters not give an opportunity to the DMK as the party would ruin the state. He accused the DMK of indulging in ruckuses and brawls. People should teach a befitting lesson to the DMK by voting the AIADMK to power again, the CM said while campaigning for AIADMK candidates in Pudukkottai district. Read full story

Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam has declared total assets valued at Rs 61.19 lakh, up from the Rs 33.20 lakh in 2016, according to his election affidavit submitted as part of the nomination for the April 6 assembly polls in the state. Panneerselvam, AIADMK Coordinator, is seeking a third term from Bodinayakkanur in Theni district.

Saidapet is like no other assembly constituency in Chennai city – for it was as Saidapet MLA that DMK’s M Karunanidhi became chief minister for the time in 1969. After 1967, he got reelected in 1971 also, and went on to become the state’s longest serving chief minister. A political nerve centre, every MLA from Saidapet, irrespective of whether they are from the AIADMK or the DMK, was seen as a ‘strongman’ – the late MK Balan and Saidai Kittu earlier, and now Saidai Duraiswamy and Ma Subramanian are examples. Interestingly, the last two became city mayors and now they are on a highvoltage face off as candidates of AIADMK and DMK respectively.

A day after BJP cadres created a ruckus in Madurai in the wake of the party giving a ticket to DMK MLA Dr P Saravanan to contest in the election the same day he joined the party, TN BJP president L Murugan dismissed reports that there was disgruntlement in the party rank and file. “Our cadres are disciplined. They will obey the high command,” he said in Coimbatore. He said the BJP will win all 20 seats it is contesting.

Lashing out at the ruling AIADMK and chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for not acceding to its requests for seats and the constituencies it sought, DMDK leader Premalatha said the chief minister lacked maturity. The party on Monday said AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran was the chief minister candidate for the AMMK-DMDK alliance. The DMDK was allocated 60 seats by AMMK after it walked out of the AIADMKled alliance last week.

AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran has turned to Kovilpatti assembly segment in Tuticorin district in south Tamil Nadu to help him revive his fortunes and reclaim the AIADMK. He is banking on the mukkulathor (thevar) community, a dominant caste group in the region to which he and his aunt V K Sasikala belong. In fact, in Kayathar, one of the two panchayat unions in Kovilpatti, 13 of the AMMK councillors were elected on independent symbols in the 2019 local body polls. The AIADMK and the DMK won one and two seats respectively in the union.

Inviting DMK chief M K Stalin to an open debate on corruption charges levelled against him, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami challenged the opposition leader to prove his true mettle by winning in the Edappadi assembly segment instead of winning in all the other 233 constituencies. During his campaign at Chettimankurichi in the Edappadi assembly segment on Monday, Palaniswami said Stalin had created an illusion that the DMK would win in all the 234 seats. “Stalin’s thoughts will not come true at any cost,” he said. “The DMK is a corporate company with Stalin as its managing director while Kanimozhi, Udhayanidhi Stalin and Dayanidhi Maran are its board of directors,” he said.

The AIADMK’s U-turn on CAA has upset ally BJP. After voting for the law in Parliament, the AIADMK manifesto released on Sunday says the party will press the Centre to scrap it. Both AIADMK and BJP leaders admitted that reigniting the CAA debate was a bid to woo the minorities ahead of the election. “Knowing the Centre’s stand, the AIADMK leadership should not make this (CAA) issue alive again. It is an embarrassment for us,” state IT wing president of BJP C T R Nirmal Kumar said and recalled chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s speech in support of the CAA in the state assembly.

Actor-turned-politician and leader of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan is the richest among the candidates who have filed nominations till Monday for the forthcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. He has declared assets worth Rs 176.9 crore in his name, which includes movable assets worth Rs 45 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 131.8 crore. He doesn’t have spouse and dependents and has no cases against him, as per his affidavit. Kamal’s party vice-president and vanilla exporter R Mahendran is the second richest. The assets in his name and his wife’s name are close to Rs 160 crore. He has a dependent with assets worth Rs 18 crore. So, looking at the combined assets of the family, he would beat Kamal by a little over Rs 1 crore.

Former CM J Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala, who made a dramatic announcement about stepping away from politics on March 3, seems to be keeping her options open about returning to active politics as she had not withdrawn her case filed in 2017 challenging her removal as general secretary of the AIADMK. On Monday, her nephew T T V Dhinakaran withdrew his petition filed before a court in 2017 challenging the AIADMK general council’s decision to remove him from the post of deputy general secretary. The AMMK leader said he wanted to withdraw the case since he has founded a separate party. When the suit came up for hearing on Monday, Dhinakaran’s counsel filed a memo for withdrawal. However, counsel for Sasikala said he has to get instructions from his client about whether to withdraw or continue with the case. Recording the same, IV additional judge A R V Ravi adjourned the plea to April 9. The issue pertains to resolutions adopted by the AIADMK general council in September 2017 removing Sasikala and Dhinakaran. Aggrieved, the duo filed a civil suit in the Madras HC seeking to declare Edappadi K Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam, Dindigul C Srinivasan, S Semmalai and E Madhusudanan as not members of the AIADMK.