Making Anbumani a Cabinet Minister was my mistake, says Ramadoss

Making Anbumani a Cabinet Minister was my mistake, says Ramadoss

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss on Thursday (May 29, 2025) accused his son and party “working president” Anbumani Ramadoss of having functioned in a “no holds barred” manner and disregarding qualities of leadership, affecting the growth of the party.

At a press conference at his Thailapuram residence near Puducherry, Mr. Ramadoss launched a blistering attack on his son. “It was my mistake that I had made Anbumani a Central Cabinet minister when he was 35 years old,” said Mr. Ramdoss, who had recently declared that he was taking over as “party president,” a post that was held by Mr. Anbumani.

Referring to Mr. Anbumani’s speech at a meeting in Dharmapuri recently, where he stated that he was under mental stress and at a loss to understand why he was removed from the post of PMK president, Mr. Ramadoss said his son has been coming out with such statements only to to distract the party and its rank and file to garner sympathy. This, he said, only raises concerns.

Mr. Ramadoss said when he made an attempt to appoint his grandson Mukunthan as the youth wing secretary of the party during the general council meeting held near Puducherry, Mr. Anbumani had publicly protested it.

“This tarnished the image of the party, and everyone was visibly shocked,” he said. The manner in which Mr. Anbumani flung the mic onto the table, “which barely missed hitting me on the head“ was an “unseemly act”, and all those present at the meeting had witnessed it. This showed that he lacked leadership qualities, Mr. Ramadoss said.

The senior leader, who was instrumental in floating the PMK, said Mr. Anbumani had only “shattered a big mirror with his demeanour”. Mr. Ramadoss recalled how he built the party by visiting more than 95,000 villages to develop the roots of the organisation amongst the public. “I was bereft of food and drinking water while visiting the villages, and all this came to naught and was tarnished by Mr. Anbumani,” he lamented.

Alleging that Mr. Anbumani continued to pose a hurdle in the party’s growth by committing several mistakes, Mr. Ramadoss said he had appointed Tamil Kumaran, son of party honorary president G.K. Mani, for the party’s development and had issued the appointment order to him.