The presence of numerous political parties is good a sign in a democracy, but for those who seek to make a career out of politics they provide a platform for opportunism.
On Thursday, DMK MLA Anita Radhakrishnan, who was kept under suspension and was reportedly planning to return to the AIADMK, was readmitted into the DMK after he buried the hatchet with the high command.
Former DMK Minister Napoleon who defected to the BJP has been honoured with the party’s State vice president post.
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While DMK’s spokesperson T.K.S Elangovan sought to play down the issue of defection, saying that a political party could not keep its doors closed when someone wanted to join it, C. Lakshmanan, Professor of the Madras Institute of Development Studies argued that these defections reflected “political bankruptcy and opportunism”.
“A political party, particularly a party with a large following, cannot afford to rigid in these matters. We groomed Parithi Ilamvazhuthi and he is now with the AIADMK. What do you expect us to do when someone knocks at our door? People do not judge a party based on who is admitted and who is sent out. If our decision can weaken our enemies there is nothing wrong in it,” Mr. Elangovan said.
Both the DMK and the AIADMK have always been “generous” when it came to admitting and rewarding new comers and defectors to the organisation. But the question normally asked is whether a party can take for granted its loyalists, who always stand by it during crisis, and reward outsiders.
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The AIADMK nominated V. Maitrayen, who has his roots in the BJP, to the Rajya Sabha after his defection and bought a new car for former MDMK leader Nanjil Sampath to travel across the State after he moved to their camp.
When Nanjil Manoharan returned to the DMK after a stint with the AIADMK during MGR’s time, he was in no time elevated to the position of one of the senior leaders of the party. The same is the case with Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, who defected from the AIADMK to join the DMK in 1980.
“At least these leaders are good speakers and organisers. But I am at my wits’ end to understand the party’s decision to allow actor S.Ve. Sekher to sit in the general council meeting when he was not even a member of the party,” a senior leader of the DMK said.
Later, the DMK accommodated T.M. Selvaganapathy and nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. P.K. Sekar Babu, a vocal critic of the DMK and its leader M. Karunanidhi inside and outside the Assembly, and Anita Radhakrishnan were immediately given seats in the Assembly elections. Most of the senior leaders and district secretaries who had once thrown their weight behind MDMK general secretary Vaiko rejoined the DMK.
‘Enterprising career’
“This only shows politics is no longer an instrument for social change or public service, but an enterprising career. Otherwise how can a person simply wipe out his ideological moorings and join a political party without any qualms,” asked Mr. Lakshmanan.
Writer A. Marx said political parties were also under compulsion to show that they were preferred by leaders and cadres over other parties.
DMK and AIADMK have been “generous” in rewarding new comers and defectors