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For the third time, brothers are contesting against each other

Rajesh Nair

They lock horns in Nettapakkam constituency

V. Vaithilingam. PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

PONDICHERRY: For the third time in a row, the brothers are contesting each other.

The third and fourth sons of late Chief Minister V. Venkatasubba Reddiar are locking horns from the Nettapakkam constituency for the Assembly elections.

Muthunarayana Reddiar.PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The elder son V. Vaithilingam, an ex-Chief Minister, is the Congress candidate and his younger brother Muthunarayana Reddiar, belongs to the Pudhucherry Munnetra Congress (PMC), a splinter group of the Congress party. In the past two Assembly polls the elder sibling had the last laugh. Mr. Muthunarayana Reddiar contested unsuccessfully in the 1996 elections as an Independent and 2001 on the PMC ticket.

Unlike the younger brother, Mr. Vaithilingam is a politician for more than a decade. Except his first poll battle in 1980 he won all the elections after that on the Congress ticket. He went on to become the Chief Minister in 1991. Mr. Muthunarayanan, an agriculturalist, entered the political arena only recently for reason known only to the family circle.

How do the brothers perceive the fight? For Vaithilingam "it is nothing knew".

"In principle we are not fighting. Everybody wants to win," was his cryptic replay when asked whether he wants to wish him luck this time. However, Mr. Muthunarayanan is more clear-cut in his comment.

"I treat him as my enemy. I spoke to him for the last time in 1999, that too over the phone. I am fighting this election to win. This time, the neglected youth in the constituency is with me. I don't wish him good luck," he noted.

As the fight unfolds, the electorate has to wait and see who would have an upper hand this time.

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