Chidambaram not to contest Lok Sabha polls; son Karti for Sivagangai seat

Chennai: After much delay the AICC late Thursday named its candidates for Tamil Nadu for the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in which the two big guns of Tamil Nadu Congress, P. Chidambaram and G. K. Vasan, both Union ministers, have opted out, as was reported by Deccan Chronicle.

The list, which was released around 10 pm, however did not comprise candidates for Pollachi, north Chennai, south Chennai, Karur and Kanyakumari for which hectic parleying is happening among various factions of the state party unit. Union finance minister P. Chidambaram managed to convince the high command to field his son Karti who would attempt to make his Lok Sabha debut from native Sivagangai constituency.

While the sitting MPs managed to retain their seat, the list was dominated by youngsters, as was reported in DC Thursday. Old horses like EVKS Elangovan, R Prabhu, Tirunavukkarasar have succeeded in getting the tickets they desired for, viz, Tirupur, Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram.

Prominent new faces include Karti (Sivagangai), Vijay Elanchezhian (Vellore), Nase Rajesh (Arakkonam), Gopi (Erode) and Mohan Kumaramangalam (Salem). Former MLAs Arul Anbarasu and Vishnu Prasad, sons of senior Congress leaders Anbarasu and Krishnasamy, would face the battle of ballots from Sriperumbudur and Arani.

Krishnasamy emulated Chidambaram senior by fielding his son. State Congress chief B. S. Ganandesikan who was keen on contesting from his native Dindugul could not get the ticket after an initially reluctant sitting MP NSV Chithan agreed to seek re-election from there.