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R. Thamaraikani (19 October 1946 – 15 September 2005) was a politician from Tamil Nadu and Member of Legislative Assembly. He was elected to Tamil Nadu state assembly five times from Srivilliputhur constituency, three times as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) candidate under M. G. Ramachandran, once as an independent and once as an ADMK candidate under Jayalalitha.[1] He has been referred to as maverick[2] and irrepressible[1] by media.
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Personal life

He was born in 19 October 1946 to S. Ramasamy and R. Shanmugathai. He was married to R. Devaki and had four sons and one daughter. He died in a private hospital in Madurai on 15 September 2005 at age 59.[3]
[edit] Political career
ADMK under M. G. Ramachandran

He was a staunch supporter of M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) since his school days and has led MGR's fan club. He became Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (MLA) contesting as a candidate of Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) from Srivilliputhur constituency. He won 1977,1980and 1984 Tamil Nadu assembly elections as an ADMK candidate. After the death of MGR, he contested the assembly election unsuccessfully in 1989 from Janaki faction. However, he won the election in 1991 as an independent candidate.
ADMK under Jayalalitha

He joined ADMK under Jayalalitha. He won the 1996 assembly election as an ADMK candidate and became a leader of ADMK party in the assembly for a brief period. He was also the chairman of Srivilliputhur municipality between 1996 and 2000. He was expelled fom ADMK by Jayalalitha for alleged anti-party activities. He lost the Lok Sabha election contesting as an independent against ADMK candidate V. Ramaswami, former judge of Supreme Court. He was later admitted into ADMK on November 1999 after expressing regret for anti-party activities.
DMK

He joined Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in June 2001 claiming that leaders of MGR generation are not there in ADMK anymore.During his time in DMK party, he lost the 2001 assembly election to his son, Inbatamizhan fileded by ADMK.
Assembly attack

During a debate in Tamil Nadu assembly on 23 March 1999, Thamaraikani attacked the then Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam. The debate was about the law and order situation started by Thamaraikani's partyman. Following the incident, he was subsequently swept to the ground by other DMK members. He was later taken into police custody and suspended along with ADMK MLA C. Karuppasami for the rest of the budget session by speaker P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan