Heirs, new entrants, loyalists, youth wing cadre in race for DMK ticket
As the DMK begins candidate selection, balancing claims of ministers’ heirs, loyalists, youth leaders, and new entrants from the AIADMK will be a challenging task.
Chennai: As the DMK leadership which has completed the seat-sharing exercise with alliance parties moves towards candidate selection, it has to deal with numerous applications from heirs of ministers and many entrants from the AIADMK, besides rewarding loyalty and providing opportunities to the next generation from the youth wing.
Former minister K. Ponmudy has not sought a ticket this time but his son Gautam Sigamani has applied for a seat. Minister I. Periyasami and his son Senthil Kumar have sought tickets to contest in the elections. Minister S. Regupathy’s son Annamalai and minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam’s son Kathiravan, too, are in the race to get tickets for Assembly seats.
Many of the ministers in the DMK Cabinet are from the AIADMK and they include E.V. Velu, Raja Kannappan, P.K. Sekar Babu, S. Regupathy, S. Muthusami, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, besides former minister V. Senthil Balaji.
Apart from MP Thanga Thamizh Selvan, former MP V. Maitreyan, former minister R. Vaithilingam and MLAs Manoj Pandian and P. Ayyappan had also joined the DMK. The latest to join the ruling party was former chief minister O. Panneerselvam and his son, O.P. Ravindranath.
The list of heirs of ministers and district secretaries, besides the new entrants from the AIADMK, is very long and would occupy a notable chunk of constituencies where DMK functionaries had been working for the party for decades. Party functionaries working for a long time have also thrown their hat in the ring and youth wing functionaries are in the race for tickets expecting at least 20 per cent of the seats to form the core of the party’s future team.
When Chief Minister M.K. Stalin formed the youth wing, many of his associates received chances to contest in the elections and have reached the top levels of power in the organisation and ministry. At present, only a few ministers, including Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and T.R.B. Rajaa, are youngsters.
When the party leadership chooses the candidates from the list of aspirants, it is expected to be a tightrope walk to ensure that loyalists, youth wing functionaries, new entrants from the AIADMK and heirs are accommodated with no compromise on winnability criteria.