Coimbatore North MLA PRG Arunkumar walked out of the Kuvathoor resort where AIADMK MLAs have spent the last few days and has reached his home in Periyanaickenpalayam, near Coimbatore.
He will not participate in the Assembly proceedings that will begin later on Saturday. He will also resign as the party's Coimbatore Urban District Secretary.
Speaking to journalists at his residence, 20 km away from the city, Mr. Arunkumar said that he chose to walk out of the resort because he couldn't digest the fact that a family had taken over the party leadership.
When V.K. Sasikala first took over as the interim general secretary he accepted after much hesitation because of the position the party was in after the then general secretary Jayalalithaa’s death. Senior party leaders convinced him and he in turn pacified his supporters and party men.
But the appointment of TTV Dinakaran as deputy general secretary was unjustifiable. There was total resentment among the cadre, who refused to accept such people in the party that founder M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa had nurtured.
He was siding with neither faction and choose to absent himself from the Assembly because it would be of no use attending the session and abstaining from voting.
His decision was in keeping with his supporters wishes, Mr. Arunkumar said and added that he'd also planned to resign his party position.
He would decide the next course of action soon.
On his stay in the resort, the MLA said the MLAs were not threatened or coerced and knew that they were being taken there to decide the party's future.
The MLAs had access to newspapers and were not confined against their will.
