The Congress party has fielded Robert Bruce in Tirunelveli parliamentary constituency and Tharahai Cuthbert in Vilavancode assembly constituency, which has fallen vacant after S. Vijayadharani, who was elected on Congress’ ticket, resigned as MLA and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party is yet to decide on a candidate for Mayiladuthurai parliamentary constituency.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai on Monday presented A and B forms to party’s candidates – S. Jothimani (Karur), Vijay Vasanth (Kanniyakumari), S. Sasikanth Senthil (Tiruvallur), Dr. M.K. Vishnu Prasad (Cuddalore) – as they prepare to file their nominations at Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai.
Speaking to the journalists, Mr. Selvaperunthagai charged that the BJP had ‘stolen’ ₹285 crore from the Congress party.
“PM Modi’s government has been continuously trying to oppress the Congress party and other democratic political parties. There are many examples to back this statement. The Congress party’s 11 bank accounts have been frozen stating that income tax returns were not filed on time for the year 2017-18. The idea seems to be to freeze inflow of money thinking that this would shut down the Congress party. Money is not important; we trust in the people,” he said.
Ms. Jothimani contended BJP State president K. Annamalai’s decision to not contest in Karur parliamentary constituency, but instead contest in Coimbatore showed that he was scared.
“Karur is his native district. He contested in Aravakurichi, which is an assembly segment that falls under Karur Parliamentary seat. He has gone to Coimbatore....that shows the bad shape that the BJP is in Tamil Nadu,” she said.
Congress candidate for Tiruvallur, Sasikanth Senthil, said there was an ideological battle between those who liked the idea of India and those who didn’t love what India stood for. “If we want a democratic India, the INDIA bloc should win. I want to pursue politics that youth will be attracted to...I want to provide a platform for it. As far as Tiruvallur is concerned, it is my native district. I have taken a dip in Cooum river in Tiruvallur...the river gets polluted as it gets into Chennai. Tiruvallur is close to my heart...I will understand and protect the ecosystem of the district,” he said.
