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The Election Commission allotted new party names and symbols to the two warring factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday, ahead of the prestigious bypoll fight in former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s constituency of RK Nagar.
While the faction led by O Panneerselvam will be referred to as ‘AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma’ and will fight the coming Radhakrishnan Nagar bypoll with the electricity pole symbol, the Sasikala faction will be referred to as ‘AIADMK Amma’ and will fight the bypoll with the ‘hat’ symbol.
The decision came after the EC had frozen the highly-recognised ‘two leaves’ symbol and the name of the party for the coming bypoll.
The bypoll assumes significance, considering it was the seat of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa till her death in December 2016. This would make it an important perception marker in the battle for her legacy.
The bypoll will see a fight between Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran, who was reinstated in the party after being expelled by Amma, and OPS candidate E Madhusudanan.
Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar, who claims to be the true successor of her political legacy, also plans to contest as an independent candidate.
Meanwhile, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth said he supports “no one” in the fray for the April 12 by-election to the R K Nagar assembly constituency.
The by-election is being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of former chief minister Jayalalithaa.
The superstar said in a tweet, “My support is for no one in the coming election.”
Rajinikanth’s statement comes days after music composer and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the bypoll, Gangai Amaran, called on him.
Amaran’s son Venkat Prabhu had tweeted on Sunday that the actor had wished him ‘success’ in his political innings during the brief meeting.
“Today our thalaivar @superstarrajini met and wished my dad for his political victory in #RKNagarByElection #happyson #GangaiAmaran,” Prabhu’s tweet had said.
He had also posted a picture of his father with Rajinikanth at the latter’s residence.
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