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Grand victory assured in Tiruvarur: AIADMK

Exuding confidence that the party would score a 'grand' victory in Tiruvarur, OPS said the candidate would be announced \"in a day or two\".

Chennai: The ruling AIADMK on Saturday exuded confidence of securing a 'grand' victory in the January 28 Tiruvaur by-poll, saying such a win will 'create history' for the party in the Lok Sabha polls later this year.

After the party parliamentary board interviewed the Tiruvarur ticket aspirants at the AIADMK headquarters here, party coordinator and state Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam along with joint-coordinator and Chief Minister K Palaniswami told reporters 45 of the 52 ticket applicants were interviewed during the day and the rest could not make it "because of unavoidable reasons".

Exuding confidence that the party would score a 'grand' victory in Tiruvarur, OPS said the candidate would be announced "in a day or two".

Asked about the demands from some sections to defer the poll because the relief work for the November 16 Gaja cyclone disaster in Tiruvarur district was still going on and the people have not returned to normal living, he said, "As far as the AIADMK is concerned, we are ready to face the polls any time to secure a grand victory".

When it was pointed out that AIADMK usually names its nominees ahead of others and asked if there was any 'delay' in taking a decision, CM Palaniswami said there was still time for filing nominations.

Asked if AIADMK was 'apprehensive' of facing the by-poll, the CM said not being the first to field the candidate did not mean that his party was scared of facing the election. "We are ready to face polls anytime. And only we will win," he said.

The Opposition DMK and T T V Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam have named their candidates for this poll, necessitated by the death of DMK leader M Karunanidhi on August 7 last year.

Palaniswami recalled AIADMK's thumping win in the face of the opposition's high confidence in the 2013 Yercaud by-poll when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister. That victory later translated into the party's impressive show in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when it won 37 of the 39 seats in the state, he said.

He insisted the same scenario would be repeated now too. "We will win the Tiruvarur by-poll and it will create a big history for us in (this year's) Lok Sabha polls," EPS added.

With the DMK and the AMMK already naming their candidates, the announcement from the AIADMK about its nominee would complete the battleground expected to witness a triangular contest in the late Karunanidhi's home turf.

The big question that has erupted right now is whether the by-poll would be held at all, considering that CPI-I leader D Raja petitioning the Supreme Court against it on the ground that the Gaja cyclone relief work has not been completed and the people in the constituency are far from being ready for the elections.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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