Lobbying has begun among senior leaders of the AIADMK for getting nominated to two Rajya Sabha seats that the party hopes to bag in the biennial elections, slated for next month.
Six seats of Tamil Nadu in the Upper House are falling vacant on June 29, including three each belonging to the ruling DMK and the AIADMK. The retiring members of the principal Opposition party are S.R. Balasubramoniyan, A. Navaneethakrishnan and A. Vijayakumar. At the time of the elections in 2016, the party had a fourth representative, R. Vaithilingam, who quit the post last year following his election to the Assembly. His place has now gone to K.R.N. Rajeshkumar of the DMK.
A senior leader of the AIADMK, who is among the aspirants, says approximately 60 persons have requested party coordinator O. Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami to give them an opportunity to become members of the Upper House. There is a feeling in the party that the two leaders would distribute the two seats to one of their nominees each.
