Vijayakanth dares Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth has thrown a challenge at chief minister M Karunanidhi, saying he would contest in the same constituency as the DMK chief for the forthcoming assembly election. Participating in a Pongal function in Villupuram on Saturday, the actor, who heads the DMDK, said, "If need be, I will contest against the chief minister himself."

The actor who is likely to align with the AIADMK, said he would contest in whichever assembly constituency Karunanidhi chose to fight. Vijayakanth's challenge could throw up an interesting electoral contest. In most assembly elections, the DMK chief has contested from the Chepauk assembly constituency that falls within Chennai.

Of late, there has been some talk that the party patriarch is likely to choose a constituency outside the city. Chennai has for long been a DMK citadel. But rival AIADMK stormed its bastion both in the 2006 assembly election and the 2009 Lok Sabha election making considerable gains.

As for Vijayakanth, he has given enough indication that his party would choose the AIADMK over the DMK for the assembly election. At the party's recent Salem conference, Vijayakanth, while declining to make an announcement about the party's decision for the assembly election, merely said no party can come to power in Tamil Nadu without aligning with his DMDK.

His priority, he said was to oust Karunanidhi's "corrupt regime", making it clear that his party would not have any truck with the DMK.

At the Villupuram function, Vijayakanth said he had visited the town after floating his party for the first time in 2005. Stagnant drainage water continued to mess up the ground even now. "This clearly shows that the administration has done very little," he said.