Vaiko kicks off campaign; not to contest from Sivakasi

Chennai, Mar 29: Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko, who today released his party list for the May 8 assembly election, is not contesting the polls himself.

It was widely speculated that he would contest the Sivakasi constituency, but he fielded his party colleague R Gnanadas from there and former Union Minister and party treasurer M Kannappan from Thondamuthur.

The MDMK, contesting from 35 constituencies in alliance with the ruling AIADMK, has accomodated four of eight partymen arrested under POTA along with Mr Vaiko.

A Ganesamurthy, Bhoominathan, Veera Ilavarasan and Sivandhiayappan are the four detenus, who are on bail. They would contest from Vellakoil, Madurai West, Thirumangalam and Sivaganga respectively.

Mallai Sathya (Egmore), Somu (Tambaram), Nazareth Durai (Sathankulam), Malarmannan (Tiruchirapalli-I) Vijaya Thayanban (Anna Nagar) and D R R Senguttuvan are the other prominent party leaders given seats. The MDMK is locking horns with the DMK in 16 constituencies.

Mr Vaiko, after introducing the candidates and releasing the party manifesto at a public meeting here, kicked off his 35 day-long campaign. It was from the same venue that he released the list of candidates for the May 2004 Lok Sabha poll, where he won all four seats contested.

Mr Vaiko, moved to national politics after his unsuccessful fight from Vilathikulam in Tuticorin district in the 1996 Assembly polls. In 1996, Mr Vaiko lost to the DMK's K Ravisankar by a slender margin of 634 votes. In that maiden entry after breaking away from the DMK in 1993, the MDMK failed to win a single seat. It was in the company of the CPI(M) in 1996.

In the 2001 Assembly poll, the MDMK took the field on its own after walking out from the DMK alliance at the eleventh hour. It contested 211 seats, but failed to open its account.

Mr Vaiko, who represented Sivakasi in the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha, sprang a surprise by choosing to refrain from contesting the May 2004 Lok Sabha poll. Fielding his colleague from Sivakasi, he had said he would devote more time to strengthening the party in the state.
The following is the list of candidates: Velacherry Manimaran-Perambur (Res), Mallai Sathya-Egmore (Res), Ms Vijaya Thayanban-Anna Nagar, Somu-Tambaram,Rathinaraj-Nagercoil, Nasareth Durai-Sathankulam, Malarmannan-Tiruchirapalli-I, Kiliyanallur R Natarajan-Thottiam, Viswanathan-Pattukkotai, Monjanur Ramasamy-Aravakkurichi, M Magalingam -Mayiladuthurai, A Ganesamoorthy-Vellakovil, T K Subramaniam-Sathyamangalam, RM Udayasuriyan-Tenkasi, Dr Sadan Thirumalaikumar -Vasudevanallur (Reserved), K C V Thamarai Kannan-Tharamangalam, T N Gurusamy-Kabilarmalai, V S Sampath-Dharmapuri,M Bhoominathan-Madurai East,Veera Elavaran-Thirumangalam, Karate M Palanisamy--Ramanathapuram, Dr R Masilamani-Ginji, Sabapathy Mohan-Nellikuppam, N Ramalingam-Kurinjipadi,S Duraisamy-Tirupur, M Kannappan-Thondamuthur,N Ramakrishnan-Cumbum, Sevanthiappan-Sivagangai, R Varadharajan-Virudhunagar, N Subramani-Vellore, K C Alagiri-Tirupathur, N Selvaraghavan-Dindigul, Seema Basheer-Chennai Harbour, D R R Senguttuvan-Poonamalee.

UNI