From the day the MDMK was launched by Vaiko, Pudur M. Boominathan, the sitting MLA from Madurai South Assembly constituency, has been with the party and is known as a trusted worker of his leader.
To justify this, when Mr. Vaiko was detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002, for his pro-LTTE speeches, Mr. Boominathan was also arrested due to a faux pas by authorities. Despite knowing that, he agreed to go with his leader and remained in the prison.
He is now seeking re-election on DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol. On the opposite side, Raama Sreenivasan of the BJP is contesting on the ‘Lotus’ symbol with the support of the AIADMK and others.
Having a doctoral degree in Gandhian Studies, Mr. Sreenivasan had served as a faculty member at a private university in Thanjavur and worked in BSNL, Madurai. Closely associated with many senior BJP leaders at the national level, ‘Professor’ Sreenivasan has been serving as Tamil Nadu BJP general secretary and has close links with the RSS, Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the Vivekananda Kendra, where he has given numerous lectures on the importance of Bharat, Gandhian Thoughts, etc.
While Sumathi of the NTK and J. Jo Peter of the TVK are also in the fray, working hard to make a mark, the real fight appears to be between Mr. Boominathan and Mr. Sreenivasan, who is supported by the AIADMK, AMMK, the PMK, John Pandian’s outfit and other parties.
