FIGHT OF SONS OF SOIL IN OFFING?

Former minister Vaithilingam, who joined the DMK, may face off against AIADMk’s Sekar in Orathanadu in TN

- N RAMESH @Thanjavur

IN Orathanadu Assembly constituency the AIADMK is likely to take on someone who was their own once before changing sides recently.

The turncoat, sitting MLA R Vaithilingam, could be the DMK candidate from this segment again in the upcoming elections who has some good work to his credit.

The Dr M S Swaminathan Agricultural College and Research Institute situated at Eachangkottai on the Thanjavur to Orathanadu road, established in 2014, stands as one of the testimonies to the work done by R Vaithilingam, the four-time MLA and two-time minister in the AIADMK government led by party supremo J Jayalalithaa.

Once a part of “Ivar Ani”, the team of five members acting as Jayalalithaa’s lieutenants, Vaithilingam became the deputy coordinator of the AIADMK after her demise. He recently joined the DMK and is likely to be fielded by the Dravidian major in the rural constituency comprising Kallars as the majority community followed by Dalits and Mutharayras. Vaithilingam’s probable entry as a DMK candidate evokes

a positive response from even those who don’t have any party affiliation.