Chennai: Former Deputy Mayor ‘Karate’ R. Thyagarajan pipped actor Khushbu to seal the Congress nomination for the prestigious Mylapore seat in the heart of the capital, handing a moral victory to former Union finance minister P Chidambaram in the battle for prestige with TNCC chief E.V.K.S. Elangovan. Mr Thyagarajan belongs to Mr Chidambaram’s faction while Ms Khushbu’s nomination was being pushed by Mr Elangovan.
Releasing the second and final list of candidates, the Congress gave seats to Nasey R. Rajesh from Maduravoyal, M K Vishnuprasad from Cheyyar and K Selvaperunthagai from Sriperumbudur ignoring opposition from D Yasodha, who had represented the reserved seat for long time.
While Mr Rajesh is the son of TNCC Treasurer Nasey Ramachandran, Mr Prasad is the son of former TNCC chief M Krishnaswamy. The party also changed the candidate in Ooty, replacing B Ramachandran with R Ganesh.
Former MLA Rani Venkatesan is the nominee from Srivaikuntam, while P Gopi is the nominee from Kangeyam and Sreeraj Chokkar from Sivakasi. The party will field S Rajesh Kumar from Killiyoor in Nagercoil district.
The icing on the cake was the candidature of Mr Thyagarajan, who bagged the nomination after intense lobbying for the seat by Mr Elangovan for Ms Khushbu, who is also AICC spokeswoman.
