Saturday, 16 April 2016

DMK cadres up in arms against party candidate

DMK men demand removal of Jolarpet candidate
VELLORE:  Ignoring party leader M Karunanidhi’s plea not to oppose the party’s decision but to work for its victory in the May 16 election, the dissenting party functionaries in Vellore district are up in arms against party candidate for Jolarpet constituency.  The party men on Friday staged a protest and one of them attempted to commit suicide to express their displeasure over the selection of the candidate.
The party has fielded Vellore (West) party women wing secretary Kavitha Dhandapani for Jolarpet constituency.  She faced a stiff opposition from a section of the party cadres, who were in no mood to heed to their leader’s plea.
Nearly 150 party men, all believed to the supporters of former DMK MLA of Natrampalli N K R Sooriyakumar, have staged protest demanding to replace Kavitha Dhandapani, in Natrampalli bus stand.
After staging a protest for nearly 30 minutes, they moved to Vaniyambadi party office to register their protest. A group of around 100 party men from Jolarpet have also joined them.  The dissenting cadres reached the party office in Vaniyambadi New Town and raised slogan against Principal Secretary Durai Murugan and party Vellore (West) district secretary Devaraj
Tension flared up in the party office when a party man – Kandasamy of Natrampalli – has doused himself with kerosene and attempted to immolate. However, the police acted swiftly and thwarted his suicide bid.
The party functionaries said that Kavitha Dhandapani was not familiar among the party cadres in the constituency.  She was hailing from Kumberi village in Tirupattur and she has no connection with Jolarpet constituency.
 Sources claimed that former MLA N K R Sooriyakumar had instigated his supporters to protest against the woman candidature.  
On Thursday, over 500 cadres, all supporters of Anaicut (West) Union Secretary M Babu, protested in Vellore party office. A section of them had beaten up party nominee Nandhakumar for Anaicut constituency. They demanded that he be replaced with Babu.

Downplaying the protests in Vellore district, Durai Murugan told TOI, “It is very among political parties in the State. It will settle down within a day or two.”/eom/shan/

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