As migration continues, AIADMK says its organisation is intact
The Hindu
‘Nothing new for us to see a few individuals leave after loss of power’
In the months immediately after the death of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December 2016, many AIADMK leaders took pride in saying that even a split in the party did not make any of their colleagues, however disgruntled they were, to join the DMK. But they are in no position to make that assertion now. On Sunday, AIADMK veteran and former Namakkal MP P.R. Sundaram and former Minister Thoppu N.D. Venkatachalam joined the ruling party. A few days ago, another former MP Vijila Sathyanand joined the DMK. Their erstwhile colleagues, including P. Palaniappan and Jayanthi Padmanabhan who were with the AMMK until recently, chose the DMK to continue their political career. Expressing concern, long-standing members of the AIADMK point out that there were indications of the trend even in the months before the election. Dissatisfied members of the party were fielded by the DMK in the election. One example was R. Lakshmanan, who defeated former Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam in Villupuram. He was a prominent face of the camp of O. Panneerselvam in the northern district during the latter’s ‘dharmayudham’ campaign against former interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala. But he had to take the back seat after the merger of the camps led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam in August 2017.More Related News