Karthik plays truant; skips filing from Andipatti

Madurai, Apr 14 (UNI) Popular Tamil filmstar and Forward Bloc State President M Karthik shied away from filing the nomination papers from Andipatti Assembly constituency, where Chief Minister and AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa was contesting for the May eight Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

Putting up a brave face, the actor told mediapersons here that he had never committed himself to enter the fray in Andipatti.

Though failing to turn up at nearby Theni town, where he was expected to submit the papers as a 'dummy' candidate, he visited the party nominee for Thirumangalam constituency, G Senthil, being treated at the government hospital after an aborted suicide attempt, reportedly due to threats from rivals.

After spending more than 30 minutes at the critical care unit of the hospital, the celluloid hero denied he was under pressure to stay away from the contest or was abducted.

He parried questions about his becoming incommunicado for the whole day. To a question, Mr Karthik said the mystery surrounding the incident will clear only after Senthil recovered fully.

The actor himself had alleged that Forward Bloc nominees were being threatened and coerced by the ruling AIADMK to withdraw from the contest.

Meanwhile, Senthil's condition continues to be critical, hospital sources said.

Earlier in the day, the party nominee for Andipatti, Pon Murugan, filed the papers dispelling doubts over the Forward Bloc's stand on entering the fray in the high-profile constituency.

Ever since the Forward Bloc was denied a berth in the AIADMK-led alliance, there was speculation the filmstar, a crowd puller for the Thevar community, would take on the Chief Minister in Andipatti.

The mass base of the Forward Bloc, predominantly Thevars, had over the years shrunk to a few pockets in South Tamil Nadu.

UNI CR GM KD KN2129