Just days after actor R Sarathkumar, founder of the All India Samthuva Makkal Katchi, merged his party with the BJP, the national party rewarded him and his wife Radhikaa Sarathkumar for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Virudhunagar constituency. Congress’ B Manickam Tagore won the seat in 2019 by defeating DMDK’s R Alagarsamy by a margin of over 1.50 lakh votes.
Meanwhile, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, an ally of the BJP, sprung a surprise on Friday by replacing its Dharmapuri Lok Sabha candidate Arasangam with Sowmya, the wife of the party leader Anbumani Ramadoss.