AIADMK’s gains in Assembly polls in north TN due to PMK alliance: Former minister Shanmugam

Tindivanam, June 15 (IANS) Intensifying his attack on AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), senior party leader C.V. Shanmugam has claimed that the party’s electoral success in northern Tamil Nadu was largely due to its alliance with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and not because of the AIADMK’s own organisational strength.

Addressing reporters in Tindivanam on Sunday, Shanmugam alleged that the party leadership was refusing to acknowledge the reasons behind its electoral setbacks and was instead functioning in an increasingly autocratic manner driven by personal interests, family influence and financial considerations.

Questioning the AIADMK’s claims of electoral success, he said that of the 47 Assembly constituencies won by the party, 31 victories were effectively made possible by the PMK’s support base.

According to Shanmugam, the AIADMK would have struggled to secure victories across key northern districts, including Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Dharmapuri and Ariyalur, without the alliance led by PMK President Anbumani Ramadoss.

He also alleged that even Palaniswami’s own Assembly constituency of Edappadi would have been difficult to retain without the strength of the alliance.

“If not for the PMK alliance, the AIADMK would have suffered major defeats across northern Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Shanmugam also expressed concern over what he described as the erosion of the ideological identity of the party founded by the former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR).

He claimed that a small group of loyalists had insulated the leadership from the realities on the ground even as cadres and second-rung leaders continued to leave the party.

Referring to MGR’s expulsion from the DMK decades ago, Shanmugam questioned whether being branded a traitor by political opponents automatically made someone one.

He accused the present AIADMK leadership of similarly labelling dissatisfied party workers as traitors when they chose to leave the organisation.

Drawing a contrast with former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Shanmugam said she had accepted responsibility for the AIADMK’s defeat in the 1996 Assembly elections and subsequently rebuilt alliances with parties such as the PMK, MDMK and Tamil Maanila Congress to secure victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls.

Warning of further political consequences if corrective measures were not initiated, Shanmugam urged Palaniswami to immediately convene the party’s Executive Committee or General Council to review the recent election results.

Saying that senior AIADMK leaders had accepted every major decision taken over the past eight years despite reservations, he warned that continued inaction could force dissident leaders to chart their own course in the future.

–IANS

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