Resentment over denial of tickets to their leaders to contest in the upcoming Assembly elections on April 6 continued on Thursday with supporters of Virudhachalam AIADMK MLA V.T. Kalaiselvan staging a protest in Virudhachalam.
The supporters staged a protest demanding the party high command reconsider the decision after the AIADMK announced that the seat was allotted to its ally the PMK, as part of the seat-sharing agreement. The protesters said they were opposed to the move to hand over the seat to the PMK. The PMK has fielded its District Secretary G. Karthikeyan in the seat.
Kallakurichi
In Kallakurichi, the AIADMK has denied a ticket to it sitting MLA A. Prabhu and allotted the seat to a newcomer, Senthil Kumar triggering protests.
Also, supporters of former MLA, K. Alaguvelu Babu who won the seat in the 2011 elections, staged a protest in Kallakurichi town urging Mr. Babu be fielded this time.
The stir that continued for some time saw some tense moments after one of the party cadres suddenly doused himself with kerosene. The protesting cadres immediately poured water over him and thwarted his attempt.
It may be recalled that Mr. Kalaiselvan and Mr. Prabhu had switched loyalties to T.T.V. Dhinakaran in 2018 and returned to the parent party later.
AIADMK party sources said that the switching of loyalties to the dissident group and their subsequent return might have been taken into consideration when the high command announced its list of candidates.
