PC Meeting Vijay At Secretariat Triggers Speculations
The ruling party with the support of its allies, including the Congress, could win the Rajya Sabha seat if an election was held on the scheduled date of June 18.
Chennai: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram calling on Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat on Tuesday triggered speculations over the national party seeking the nomination of one of its members for the lone Rajya Sabha vacancy from the State, for which the Election Commission of India has issued the notification.
The ruling party with the support of its allies, including the Congress, could win the Rajya Sabha seat if an election was held on the scheduled date of June 18. But since the ruling coalition is likely to have a cakewalk, the opposition parties might not even field candidates.
Since Chidambaram’s visit to the Secretariat, where he met Vijay, comes at a time when the election has been called for, caused by the resignation of C Ve Shanmugham of the AIADMK, who has been elected to the State Assembly, the grapevine was abuzz with the rumour that the Congress would like to have that seat.
Earlier, during the negotiations for seat-sharing with the DMK, ahead of the Assembly elections, the Congress managed to wrest one seat for itself in the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha and nominated M Christopher Tilak for it.
In the same fashion, it is rumoured that the Congress is seeking the lone seat in the bye election for Rajya Sabha from the State, for which the ECI has already appointed P Thenmozhi as the returning officer and the electoral process kicked off on June 1.
