Raja Kannappan quits AIADMK, pledges his support to DMK

Chennai: Obviously piqued by denial of ticket to contest the Lok Sabha poll, former AIADMK minister Raja Kannappan on Monday announced quitting the party and support for the DMK front in the April 18 poll battle in Tamil Nadu. He met DMK president M K Stalin along with a large contingent of his followers and conveyed his support. Famous for scaring former Union Minister P Chidambaram with a near-loss in the 2009 Lok Sabha election in Sivaganga constituency-the Congress senior managed a win by 3,354 votes at the end of 21 rounds of counting and has now become the target of taunting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to him as ‘Recounting Minister’-Kannappan told reporters he was upset at the AIADMK ‘meekly surrendering’ four LS constituencies in the south to the BJP.

“The south has been the AIADMK stronghold all along, yet the party has given away four seats to the BJP, which only confirms the charge that the (AIADMK) party has become the slave of the BJP”, said Kannappan, who is said to be upset that the AIADMK leadership did not oblige his request for Sivaganga saying the seat had to be given away to the BJP for its national secretary H Raja. Nor was his request for alternatives, Ramanathapuram/Madurai, was considered.

Kannapan said he would now campaign actively for the success of the DMK-led ‘Secular Progressive Alliance’. A popular leader down south, he could
contribute significantly to the DMK front with his 30,000-40,000 yadava community votes.

Kannappan’s coming will be particularly sweet for Chidambaram’s son Karthi, who is most likely to be the Congress candidate at Sivaganga.