In the months immediately after the death of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December 2016, many AIADMK leaders took pride in saying that even a split in the party did not make any of their colleagues, however disgruntled they were, to join the DMK. But they are in no position to make that assertion now.
On Sunday, AIADMK veteran and former Namakkal MP P.R. Sundaram and former Minister Thoppu N.D. Venkatachalam joined the ruling party. A few days ago, another former MP Vijila Sathyanand joined the DMK. Their erstwhile colleagues, including P. Palaniappan and Jayanthi Padmanabhan who were with the AMMK until recently, chose the DMK to continue their political career.
Expressing concern, long-standing members of the AIADMK point out that there were indications of the trend even in the months before the election. Dissatisfied members of the party were fielded by the DMK in the election. One example was R. Lakshmanan, who defeated former Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam in Villupuram. He was a prominent face of the camp of O. Panneerselvam in the northern district during the latter’s ‘dharmayudham’ campaign against former interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala. But he had to take the back seat after the merger of the camps led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam in August 2017.
Asked whether the fact that the DMK is in power had attracted him to the party, after he opposed it for nearly 50 years, Mr. Sundaram gave an emphatic “no” in response. He said he was “impressed” with how Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had been conducting himself, especially after coming to power. “He has got the portrait of Amma [Jayalalithaa] restored at ‘Amma Unavagams’. He is following inclusive politics,” he pointed out.
A senior functionary of the AMMK did not attach any importance to some of his colleagues joining the DMK, saying they had left for “greener pastures”. D. Jayakumar, an organisation secretary and former Fisheries Minister, said it was nothing new for the AIADMK to see “a few individuals” leave the party after the loss of power.
This happened when M.G. Ramachandran’s government was dismissed in February 1980, and when Jayalalithaa lost power in 1996. The AIADMK is an “organisation of workers” whose roots “will ever remain intact”, he said.
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