K. Krishnasamy

R. Krishnasamy (born 3 April 1952) is an Indian physician, social worker and politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He founded the Puthiya Tamilagam party in 1999 and was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Ottapidaram constituency in 1996 election and as Puthiya Tamilagam candidate in 2011 Alliance with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.

Political views Krishnasamy on 2019, supported the three language policy in Tamil Nadu and Hindi as a third language for Tamil students. Speaking at a function in Paramakudi in 2019 Krishnasamy said to his party youngsters, "Even if women of a different caste loves you, you should stay away. We have to move forward".

He supported NEET for Tamil Nadu in August 2017 in a demonstration when AIADMK, DMK and many other parties opposed it. Former CPI(M) legislator K. Balabharathi accused him of hypocrisy, recalling that in 2011, the Krishnasamy had thanked then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for recommending a medical college seat for his daughter.

Krishnaswamy has supported many policies and positions espoused by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He also claimed that there is no evidence the BJP government is trying to impose Hindi across India. His critics alleged that Krishnaswamy is appeasing the BJP and the RSS for personal gain.

The Puthiya Tamilagam contested the 1999 Lok Sabha elections and ten seats in the 2001 state assembly elections, the latter in alliance with the DMK. It won no seats in either case. InIn the 2009 elections to the Lok Sabha, K. Krishnasamy lost to P. Lingam of CPI.

For the 2011 state elections, it allied with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and won two seats: K. Krishnasamy secured 71,330 votes in Ottapidaram constituency and A. Ramaswamy secured 75,124 votes in Nilakkottai constituency.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Puthiya Tamilagam joined with the DMK as part of the Democratic Progressive Alliance. It contested just the Tenkasi constituency, where Krishnasamy lost by 161,774 votes to the AIADMK candidate, M. Vansanthi.

The Puthiya Tamilagam allied with the DMK for the 2016 state assembly elections and contested the seats of Ottapidaram, Srivilliputhur, Krishnarajapuram and Vasudevanallur. Krishnasamy lost to Sundarraj of the AIADMK by 493 votes in Ottapidaram.

In 2019, Lok Sabha election Puthiya Tamilagam party joined the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance in Tamil Nadu as part of the National Democratic Alliance. Puthiya Tamilagam was allocated one constituency to contest, with Krishnasamy standing in Tenkasi for the sixth time.

Elections contested and positions held Tamil Nadu State Legislative Assembly Elections Contested Elections Constituency Party Votes Vote % Opponent Votes Opp. Vote % Result Margin 1996 Ottapidaram 24,585 27.32 S. Paulraj 23,437 26.05 2001 Valparai 29,513 33.11 N. Kovaithangam 47,428 53.21 Ottapidaram 38,699 42.59 A. Sivaperumal 39,350 43.30 2006 29,271 29.76 P. Mohan 38,715 39.36 2011 71,330 56.41 Raja. S 46,204 36.54 2016 64,578 40.26 R. Sundararaj 65,071 40.57 2021 53,584 31.44 M. C. Shunmugaiah 73,241 42.97

Lok Sabha Elections Contested Year Const.Party Votes % OpponentParty Votes % Result Margin % 2024Tenkasi 2,29,480 22.08 Rani Srikumar 4,25,679 40.97 1,96,199 18.89 2019 3,55,389 33.67 Dhanush M. Kumar 4,76,156 45.11 1,20,767 11.44 2014 2,62,812 26.19 M. Vasanthi 4,24,586 42.31 1,61,774 16.12 2009 1,16,685 15.69 P. Lingam 2,81,174 37.80 1,64,489 22.11 2004 1,01,122 14.20 M. Appadurai 3,48,000 48.87 2,46,878 34.67 1999 1,86,220 27.93S. Murugesan 2,39,241 35.88 53,021 7.95 1998 1,23,592 19.15 2,70,053 41.84 1,46,461 22.69 1996 Tirunelveli 61,567 9.50 D. S. A. Sivaprakasam 2,95,001 45.53 2,33,434 36.03 1984 Pollachi 2,22,770 40.73 R. Anna Nambi 3,24,200 59.27 1,01,430 18.54

Controversy When Krishnaswamy was asked at a press conference in May 2019 about his stance in the Bhartiya Janata Party's projects, including NEET and hydrocarbon exploration and the explanation for his failure in Tenkasi elections, Krishnaswamy claimed that the journalist who asked the question had further intentions and proceeded on to ask him what caste the journalist belonged to. When asked why the journalist's caste was discussed when he was just doing his job of posing questions, Krishnasamy said, "The reporter kept repeating the same question. What's wrong with asking for one's caste? Is there no caste among all of you? "This led to a heated debate between him and the mediapersons, causing a controversy.