The brewing discontent in the DMDK over the party’s decision to lead a third front in the Assembly elections saw the switching over of one more district secretary to the DMK camp on Friday.
S. Dinesh, the DMDK’s Kanyakumari (West) unit secretary, has joined the DMK claiming that he was not inclined to work for a third front as he felt it would eventually work in favour of the ruling AIADMK in the elections.
“I have eight cases filed against me and was arrested at midnight in connection with a case in the AIADMK regime. The Captain Vijayakant Front-PWF is functioning as a B-Team of the AIADMK and I cannot associate myself with that alliance,” said Mr. Dinesh, alleging that many district secretaries have paid huge money as deposits for contesting in the election.
Incidentally, a senior MLA of the party said though he was also “completely upset with Mr. Vijayakant’s move to align with the PWF,” all he could do was grin and bear.
“We suffered heavily in the hands of the AIADMK. It lured nine of our MLAs to its side. We lost talents like Panruti S. Ramachandran and Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan. How could we even remotely associate ourselves with an attempt that would help the AIADMK,” said the MLA requesting anonymity.
He alleged that Mr. Vijayakant had chosen to ignore the sentiments of 95 per cent of the party’s district secretaries and aspiring candidates who preferred an alliance with the DMK.
“It is not as if we are pro-DMK in our views. We cannot afford to give another chance to the AIADMK as it is against the interest of our survival,” he said.
North Chennai district secretary Yuvaraj, who had left the DMDK to join the DMK recently, said even during the interview with aspiring candidates, Mr. Vijayakant never gave the impression that he would go it alone.
“More than 90 per cent of the ticket aspirants including me made a strong case for an alliance with the DMK because we suffered humiliation at the hands of the ruling AIADMK.
But Mr. Vijayakant’s decision went totally against the wishes of all party men,” he claimed.
While there is an allegation that the DMK is responsible for the defection from the DMDK, party spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said those who had joined the DMK had come of their own accord. “They are disillusioned with the DMDK leadership and many more leaders may join us,” he said.
