BJP fields ex-governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South, K Annamalai from Coimbatore
New Delhi, Mar 21: The BJP on Thursday named its candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, fielding former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South and party state unit chief K Annamalai from Coimbatore.
The party fielded former DMK leader and sitting MP T R Paarivendhar and Union Minister L Murugan from Perambalur and Nilgiris respectively.
Former Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan will contest from Kanniyakumari.
Vinoj P Selvam will contest from Chennai Central, A C Shanmugam from Vellore, C Narasimhan from Krishnagiri, and Nainar Nagendran from Thoothukkudi, the party said.
Polling in the state's 39 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the first phase on April 19.
The BJP did not win a single seat from Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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BJP MLAs storm Speaker’s chamber over conduct in Karnataka Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 12: Tensions flared in the Karnataka Assembly on Thursday as BJP MLAs barged into Speaker U T Khader’s chamber, expressing strong objections to his handling of the proceedings. The confrontation came amidst heated debates over the recent police lathi charge on Panchamasali Lingayat protesters, with the ruling Congress and opposition BJP trading accusations.
The issue arose when Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar, himself a leader of the Panchamasali Lingayat community, criticized the decision of previous BJP government to scrap the 4 per cent Muslim reservation and reallocate it equally between the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities.
He alleged that the BJP government, under Basavaraj Bommai, had backtracked on its decision by assuring the Supreme Court it would not implement the reservation changes.
“For the sake of elections, they announced reservations, but later told the Supreme Court they wouldn’t go ahead with it,” Kashappanavar said.
BJP members objected, insisting that the discussion focus solely on the police action during Tuesday’s protests near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, where the Panchamasali Lingayat community demanded inclusion in the 2A category of the OBC reservation matrix (15%), as opposed to the current 3B category (5%).
The protests turned violent earlier this week, with stone pelting from demonstrators and subsequent lathi charges by police.
During the Assembly debate, Kashappanavar accused the BJP of misleading the community and the Panchamasali seer, alleging that the protest was “sponsored and instigated” by the party.
He also claimed RSS members were involved in the stone pelting, sparking a heated exchange between BJP and Congress MLAs.
The saffron party members demanded that references to the RSS be expunged from the record.
The situation escalated when Speaker Khader allowed Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda to speak after Home Minister G. Parameshwara had already addressed the lathi charge issue. BJP MLAs argued that their voices should have been heard first.
Gowda criticized the saffron party, blaming its past policies for the "injustice" faced by the Panchamasali Lingayat community, citing the BJP's affidavit to the Supreme Court on reservation issues.
Angered by Gowda’s statement, BJP MLA Sunil Kumar raised a point of order, questioning why the Minister was permitted to speak.
The Speaker dismissed the objection, prompting BJP members to raise slogans and tear papers in protest.
Amid the chaos, Khader adjourned the House for lunch.
Following the adjournment, furious BJP leaders, including Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, state BJP chief B Y Vijayendra, and MLAs C N Ashwath Narayan and Sunil Kumar, marched into the Speaker’s chamber and reportedly questioned Khader’s conduct and warned of a boycott.
“We have told the Speaker his conduct is unacceptable. If this continues, we will not attend the session,” Ashoka said.
The Assembly resumed after lunch following negotiations in the Speaker’s chamber.
