With six seats falling vacant in the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu, parties and probable candidates have started positioning themselves to stake their claim for an Upper House berth.
Ms Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Maitreyan and Elavarasan of the AIADMK, D. Raja (CPI) and Gnanadesikan (Congress) are the six members who are to retire in July next. With the changed composition of the Tamil Nadu Assembly since May 2011, the ruling AIADMK has an edge over its rivals. A minimum of 34 votes is required to win one Rajya Sabha seat. In a House of 234, the Jayalalithaa-led party has 151 members. The main Opposition DMDK has 29 members out of which four MLAs have switched their allegiance to the ruling party. They have also been assigned separate seats in the Assembly. That brings down the number of the Vijayakanth-led party to 25. DMK’s numerical strength is 23. The CPI(M) has 10 members and the CPI 9. But the CPI(M) and the CPI have parted ways. While the CPI(M) is seen to be aligning with the DMDK, CPI is close to the AIADMK. The Congress has only five members.
While D. Raja is believed to be nurturing ambitions of retaining his seat with the support of Ms Jayalalithaa, there is also talk of the 80-year-old D. Pandian being favoured by AIADMK supremo for a Rajya Sabha seat. In addition, speculation is rife that Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) is also interested in getting elected from the south Indian state. In the event of the Left parties not sticking together in the run-up to the voting, candidates of the two parties will have to negotiate with the major outfits in the state to elect their candidate.
Also, the youth wing secretary of the DMDK, Sudeesh is in touch with the central leaders of the Congress attempting to secure their support for his probable candidature. But with his party’s dwindled strength in the Assembly, it remains to be seen how he manages his victory.
With no party except the ruling AIADMK in a position to elect its candidates on its own strength, probable and serving candidates have begun to endear themselves to the three-time chief minister.