Jaya's ex-lieutenant hopes to make come back this poll

Coimbatore: AIADMK ministers and senior leaders in Coimbatore and western districts filed nominations on Thursday.
Former lieutenant of chief minister Jayalalithaa from Erode, K A Sengottayan, rural administration minister S P Velumani, higher education minister P Palaniappan and highways minister Edapadi K Palaniswamy were among those who filed nominations.
Sengottayan, who was sidelined by the party for the past few years, hopes to make a comeback this election. Filing his affidavit, the former transport minister has declared that he owns movable assets worth 1.8crore in his name and immovable assets to the tune of 3.54crore.
Higher education minister P Palaniappan, who was initially denied ticket by the AIADMK high command, was later fielded in Pappireddipatti constituency in Dharmapuri. He stated that he owns no immovable property in his name though his wife and son have properties. Palaniappan had declared that his movable property is worth 8.2lakh.
Rural development and municipal administration minister SP Velumani has claimed in his affidavit that he has movable and immovable assets worth 3.14crore. During the 2011 assembly elections, he declared that his assets were worth 2.16crore. The cash he has on his person has come down from 2.25lakh during the last election to 70,000 this time.
His wife V Vidhyadevi has assets worth 83.99lakh as of 2016. During the previous election, his wife's movable and immovable assets were worth 44.08lakh.
Submitting his nomination papers to the returning officer P Madhuranthagi, Velumani told the media that AIADMK will sweep all the 234 assembly constituencies in the election. "There was rampant power cuts in the previous DMK regime. After AIADMK came to power, Amma was able to resolve the power crisis,'' he said.
AIADMK candidate VC Arukutty filed his nomination for Kavundampalayam constituency while Amman Arjunan (Coimbatore South), Pollachi Jayaraman (Pollachi) OK Chinnaraj (Mettupalayam) also filed their nominations.
Another prominent member of the AIADMK cabinet, Edapadi Palaniswamy and Thoppu Venkatachalam also filed nominations in Erode.