Not to miss date with ‘good time,’ Karti barges into collector’s room

The pursuit of good times never ends, especially for politicians. Sticking to faith and celestial indications, Karti Chidambaram, the Congress candidate in Sivaganga, had to barge into the Collector’s room to file his nomination to keep his date with the ‘nalla neram,’ the auspicious time.

In the process, Karti, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram’s son, also forcefully ‘evicted’ independent candidate Rajendran who was already in the cabin, filing his papers.

As Karti muscled in with 15 men, a hapless Rajendran had to leave the room. He protested with the Collector, who is also the returning officer, who but asked him to wait for a few minutes for Karti to finish.

Rajendran said the returning officer was acting ‘in favour of the Congress candidate and treating the independent as a second-grade citizen.’
Karti was given a ticket amid protests from party colleague Sudharsan Nachiappan.

Similarly, in Karur constituency, Congress candidate Jothi Mani was made to wait outside the collectorate as AIADMK candidate Thambi Durai came in at the same time to file the papers, on Monday.
Congress workers said Jothi Mani was given the 12 noon-1 pm slot to file her papers. They said Jothi Mani reached the office in time but Thambi Durai barged into the collectorate.

The police personnel on duty made Jothi Mani wait for more than 30 minutes till Thambi Durai came out. An altercation broke out between the police and the Congress workers.