The decision of MDMK general secretary Vaiko to stick to the People’s Welfare Front (PWF) seems to have upset many in the party, with two more leaders joining the DMK on Thursday.
Salem district secretary K.C.V. Tamaraikannan and women’s wing secretary Kumari Vijayakumari met DMK president M. Karunanidhi at his residence and joined the party, making them the third known faces in the MDMK to jump ship.
Sources said while Mr. Tamaraikannan’s exit was “on expected lines”, it was Ms. Vijayakumari’s move that “shocked” the party organisation. “She has been one of the staunchest loyalists of Mr. Vaiko. This news has come as a great shock,” a party leader said.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Tamaraikannan, who has been with the MDMK since its formation, said it was the “undemocratic and contradictory” decisions of Mr. Vaiko that had forced people to leave the party.
“Only three months ago, he told a meeting of district secretaries that the party will align with the DMK for the Assembly polls. But now, he has changed his mind without discussing it with us,” he charged, adding that several other district secretaries are also likely to move out of the party very soon.
The move is viewed in the MDMK as the reaction to a growing concern that the PWF, now consisting of five smaller parties, may not achieve a big showing in the polls. The party did not contest the 2011 election. Unless it sends 20 or 25 MLAs to the Assembly, it would be very difficult to keep it alive,” Mr. Tamaraikannan said.
Meanwhile, TMC state general secretary, Tambaram Narayanan, resigned from the post.
