Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP fields Raadhika Sarathkumar in Virudhunagar

CHENNAI: BJP rewarded actor Sarathkumar for merging his party All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi with the saffron party by fielding his wife Raadhika Sarathkumar in Virudhunagar.

BJP on Friday released its fourth list of candidates -- this time for 14 seats in Tamil Nadu and one seat in Puducherry.

BJP fielded Pon V Balaganapathy hailing from a dalit community in Tiruvallur reserved constituency. Balaganapathy is the party's state general secretary and unsuccessfully contested an assembly election.

The party fielded R C Paul Kanagaraj, a Christian Nadar and a former office-bearer of the Madras High Court Bar Council. Kanagaraj floated a political party and merged it with BJP three years ago.

A Ashwathaman is the party's candidate in Tiruvannamalai. A lawyer by profession, he hails from the vanniyar community. He is the party's state secretary. He joined the party seven years ago.

BJP fielded former DMK MP K P Ramalingam, who joined BJP three years ago, in Namakkal.

A P Muruganandam is the BJP candidate in Tirupur. Muruganandam is a close associate of party president K Annamalai.

Former AIADMK minister Velumani's relative K Vasantharajan is the party candidate in Pollachi. He is the party's Coimbatore district secretary.

Former AIADMK functionary V V Senthilnathan, who joined BJP after Annamalai took over as the president of the state unit, is the candidate in Karur.

Former AIADMK mayor (Vellore) P Karthiyayini is the party's candidate from Chidambaram reserved constituency.

Party vice-president and former Union minister of state Pon Radhakrishnan's strong supporter M Muruganandam is the candidate in Thanjavur while Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhgam founder Devanathan Yadav is the candidate from Sivaganga contesting in BJP's lotus symbol.

Party state vice-president Raama Sreenivasan is the candidate in Madurai.

The party has fielded Puducherry home minister A Namassivayam in Puducherry. Namassivayam, who was a minister in the cabinet led by V Narayanasamy, a senior Congress leader, quit the party and joined BJP with his supporters ahead of the 2021 assembly polls.

Starting his political career with the DMK, he made crossovers at will. He joined MDMK when Vaiko floated the Dravidian splinter group and later switched over to the erstwhile TMC formed by late Congress leader Moopanaar in 1996. He joined Puducherry-based PMC headed by late Rajya Sabha member P Kannan before joining the Congress.

Congress has fielded the sitting Lok Sabha MP and PPCC president V Vaithilingam from Puducherry. Vaithilingam served a full five-year term as the chief minister between 1991 and 1996 and from September 2008 to May 2011 in the second term. He served as a minister from 1985 to 1990 in the cabinet headed by late Congress leader M O H Farook and from 2006 to 2008 in the cabinet led by the present chief minister N Rangasamy, who was with Congress.