The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) will field controversial hotelier and bar owner-turned-whistleblower Biju Ramesh as its candidate from Thiruvananthapuram in the May 16 Assembly election.
Biju’s revelations, as the working president of Kerala Bar Owners’ Association, on corruption against Kerala Congress veteran K M Mani had led to Mani’s resignation as finance minister. His charges of corruption in connection with the bar bribery scam continue to haunt the Congress-led government and the Excise Minister and senior Congress leader K Babu. Thiruvananthapuram is set to witness an engaging battle; in the fray are Congress leader and minister V S Sivakumar and Kerala Congress (Democratic) leader Antony Raju, appearing for the opposition Left after his recent crossover.
The BJP has fielded cricketer S Sreesanth in the constituency.
The AIADMK had won six seats in last year’s local body elections. The party will field candidates in six other constituencies for the Assembly polls, three each in Idukki and Palakkad districts. The AIADMK state leadership stated that the party was trying to establish bases in regions with a sizeable Tamil presence.
The other AIADMK candidates are N Mayilsamy (Chittoor), C P Sreedharan (Malampuzha), K Menaka (Nemmara), R M Dhanalakshmi (Devikulam), B Soman (Udumbanchola) and C Abdul Khader (Peerumed).
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