Even as some of the dissenting party seniors in the DMK who were shown the door on Saturday are fuming at the leadership’s drastic action for their role in the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, sections of their supporters turned violent in some parts of the State.
The former Union Minister of State for Finance and DMK’s veteran district secretary from Thanjavur, S.S. Palanimanickkam, among the 33 senior leaders suspended, is learnt to be biding his time over the cause of action against him. However, another senior member of the Rajya Sabha, K. P. Ramalingam, expressed displeasure at the leadership’s action. Mr. Ramalingam, a known supporter of the expelled Madurai strongman, M.K. Alagiri, reportedly told a local TV channel that the decision to suspend him was “autocratic.” In Salem, scores of supporters of the party’s former district secretary, Veerapandi S Arumugam, angered at the action against one of his protégées, smashed two STC buses in a frenzied bout of stone-pelting.