Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) principal secretary and party’s candidate Durai Vaiko filed his nomination papers for the Tiruchi Lok Sabha constituency here on Monday.
Accompanied by Tiruchi Mayor M. Anbazhagan of the DMK and Tiruchi East Assembly constituency MLA S. Inigo Irudayaraj, Mr. Durai Vaiko submitted his papers to the District Collector and Returning Officer M. Pradeep Kumar.
Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru was conspicuous by his absence when Mr. Durai Vaiko filed his nomination.
However, prior to filing his papers, Mr. Durai Vaiko called on Mr. Nehru and thereafter both met the Bishop of the Tiruchi-Thanjavur Diocese of the Church of South India Rt. Rev. D. Chandrasekaran to enlist his support. DMK sources said Mr. Nehru later travelled to Salem.
Mr. Durai Vaiko told presspersons that he would start his campaign with support from Mr. Nehru, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Law Minister S. Regupathy and the cadre of the alliance partners. Mr. Nehru treated him as his son and wanted him to emerge victorious.
Mr. Durai Vaiko sought to underplay Sunday’s incident during an introductory meeting with alliance partners when he turned emotional on the issue of MDMK’s symbol. He dismissed suggestions that the incident had caused resentment among the cadre and maintained that he had just turned emotional and it was a closed chapter.
The Election Commission is yet to allot the ‘top’ symbol to the MDMK, he said. The EC, Income Tax, and Enforcement Directorate were under the “control” of the BJP government, he alleged.
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