R K Nagar byelection: Left parties to field candidate against Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: The Left parties have decided to field a candidate against Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in the R K Nagar assembly constituency where a byelection will be held on June 27.
After the CPM state secretariat meeting on Wednesday, party floor leader in the assembly A Soundararajan said a candidate would be fielded in R K Nagar on behalf of the Left parties.
He added that the name of the candidate and other details would be announced in the evening.
Sources in Left parties said both the CPM and the CPI were keen on fielding a candidate to take on Jayalalithaa. “Most of the members in the state secretariat have pressed for a candidature from our party. A section of senior leaders in the CPI have been requesting to allot the seat for their party in R K Nagar. A final decision would be taken at the state committee meeting in the afternoon,” a senior CPM leader told TOI.
The DMK, PMK, TMC, VCK and MDMK have announced their decision not to contest the byelection.
BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday said the party would extent support if the DMDK fielded a candidate.
Meanwhile, 55-year-old ‘election king’ K Padmarajan on Wednesday filed his papers in R K Nagar. Padmarajan, who is contesting for the 169th time, is the first candidate to file the nomination in the byelection.