Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu:
Slamming the choice of DMK's candidate, a loyalist of his younger brother M K Stalin, in Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency, expelled party leader M K Alagiri today exhorted his supporters to ensure that he finished third in the April 24 polls.
Participating in the 29th wedding day celebration of former DMK MLA Malairajan in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, Mr Alagiri, son of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, said C Devadasa Sundaram, a builder, nominated by the party was an "unknown face" among the cadres. (
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"There are so many party loyalists in the district. This man is unknown among party workers, yet he has been chosen ...only if we defeat him and ensure DMK finishes third in the poll, we can prove that we are the real cadres of the party," he said. (
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This is the second constituency where Mr Alagiri, considered an influential leader in the southern districts, has openly asked his followers to defeat DMK nominees. Earlier, he had made a similar plea against the DMK candidate in Theni seat.
Mr Alagiri, expelled from the party last month for alleged anti-party activities, narrated the sequence of events from January when he was suspended as an "unfair" dismissal and said all he did was to question "malpractices" in party polls and took up grievances of the people who really toiled for the party.
The Madurai-based former union minister said he was confident that he would go back to the "Arivalayam" (DMK headquarters) after the elections, indicating that the party would realise his importance after its defeat.
He maintained the charges made by Mr Karunanidhi against him did not come from his heart. "Those atrocious charges against me came from his (Karunanidhi's) lips only and not from his heart," he added.