Dharmapuri seems to have become the favoured district for the ruling AIADMK as four of its 11 Rajya Sabha members have adopted villages in the backward district under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK candidate lost to Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK in Dharmapuri. Kanyakumari, the other Lok Sabha seat where the AIADMK suffered a defeat, has attracted the attention of just one AIADMK Rajya Sabha member, Paul Manoj Pandian, besides Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan of the BJP, who won the seat.
While the AIADMK Rajya Sabha members, Sasikala Pushpa of Tuticorin and T .Rathinavel of Tiruchi, have adopted Pudhupatti in Pappireddi block and Annamalaihalli in the Karimangalam block, two other Rajya Sabha members V. Maithreyan and A. Navaneethakrishnan, both of Chennai, on Saturday announced that they would adopt Paalavadi in the Nallampalli block and Chinnankuppam in the Harur block of Dharmapuri district.
Party leadership’s directionsDisclosing this to reporters on the sidelines of a regional conference on the scheme here on Saturday, Mr. Maitreyan and Mr. Navaneethakrishnan said they had adopted these villages as per the party leadership’s directions.
While the Lok Sabha members can adopt villages in their constituency or in a neighbouring district, the Rajya Sabha members have the privilege of adopting any village in the State from where they have been elected.
