With senior functionaries leaving the AMMK for other parties, its leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Saturday sought to downplay the development by saying the people and the cadre were still with his party.
Addressing the media, he said that just because one or two office-bearers had left the party, the media should not pose questions about its future. “I can say with confidence that the AMMK is intact,” he said in response to a query about party propaganda secretary Thanga Tamilselvan joining the DMK.
Probably, a few relatives of Mr. Tamilselvan, who hail from his town, may go behind him, he said, adding, “The rest are with the party.”
After Mr. Senthil Balaji left the AMMK, Mr. Tamilselvan also decided to quit, he said.
When asked about the DMK’s decision not to press for a no-confidence motion against Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal, Mr. Dhinakaran initially said he was unaware of the reason for the sudden change in its stand. When asked again, he said, “Probably, they [DMK] may have got calls from New Delhi and hence dropped the plan.”
The State government, which was spending more time on settling intra-party feuds, had no time to redress public grievances. Drinking water scarcity was at its peak everywhere, and yet, Ministers had the ‘arrogance’ to issue statements that all was well and that the opposition parties were misleading the people, he said.
