No woman in Tamil Nadu NDA list

In a huge embarrassment for the BJP, the “rainbow alliance” that it has sewn together in Tamil Nadu has failed to nominate even a single woman candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. The development has come as an ironic twist to the party which had in the past accused the Congress of dilly-dallying with the Women Reservation Bill in Parliament.

BJP announced candidates for the final two seats on its list—Vellore and Thanjavur— shutting the door for women from contesting on its ticket. But more startling is the fact that none of the NDA constituents in the State — MDMK, DMDK, PMK, IJK and NJP — have given tickets to women for all their hue and cry for women’s rights.

In fact, sources said women leaders in the BJP are quite upset at the development. Though national secretary Tamilisai Soundarajan was expected to contest from Vellore, the constituency has been allotted to A.C. Shanmugam of the New Justice Party. In Thanjavur, the party has fielded ‘Karuppu’ Muruganandam despite opposition to him.