The BJP has fielded its national secretary H. Raja to contest from Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency and former AIADMK Minister and party’s State vice-president Nainar Nagendran in Ramanathapuram constituency for the April 18 election.
Mr. Negendran, who quit the AIADMK and joined the BJP in August 2017, would take on IUML’s Navas Kani in Ramanathapuram and Mr. Raja the yet-to-be-announced Congress candidate in Sivaganga.
As the votes get polarised on community lines in Ramanathapuram constituency, where Mukkulathor voters held the sway, the BJP has fielded Mr. Nagendran (a Maravar) from Tirunelveli district.
Mr. Nagendran’s stint in the AIADMK would help him harness the AIADMK votes, though he was considered an ‘outsider’ by some. The BJP candidate, D. Kuppuramu, who who had the support of the DMDK, MDMK and other allies, had secured 1,71,083 votes in the constituency in the 2014 election.