DMK unable to find an answer to Jayalalithaa

andipatti: even before the aiadmk formally announced the candidature of its supremo, j jayalalithaa, on thursday for the february 21 byelection from the andipatti assembly constituency in theni district, her party cadres started campaigning to ensure the victory of the "chief minister-in-waiting". after her recent acquittal by the madras high court in two cases, she had indicated that she would be contesting from andipatti.the seat was subsequently vacated by party mla thangatamizh selvan. enthusiastic party workers have already written "amma chants" all over the constituency. in contrast, the dmk, the aiadmk's main rival, is yet to find an able candidate against her. former dmk mla a asaiyan, who lost the assembly byelection to aiadmk's dummy candidate thanga tamizhselvan with a handsome margin, is one names being considered seriously by the dmk. but party president m karunanidhi is not keen on fielding him again. the other choice is former mp and a former aiadmk man "cumbam" p selvendran. the dmk, however, has decided to make arrest of karunanidhi in the wee hours of june 30, as the main election plank. price rise is another issue being raised by the party. the party is also trying to rope in government employees and their family members by raising the issue of government's non-acceptance of the demand for 20 per cent diwali bonus (only 8 per cent was given) and no pongal bonus. "they may be fielding a cm candidate (jayalalithaa). but the people cannot be fooled as they have seen how constituencies like bodinayakanur and bargur have remained backward despite she represented them as a chief minister and mla. we will talk about how she is cheating people by not fulfilling her promises," selvendran told tnn. the other factor that the dmk is banking heavily on the fact that with jayalalithaa becoming cm, "dummy" cm o paneerselvam, belonging to the marwar subsection of the dominant thevar community, would be left with no post but just an mla.