Nanjil Sampath denies reports of joining DMK
He said he was tired of speaking politics, but would continue to take part in literary meetings.
Chennai: Former deputy propaganda secretary of AIADMK, Nanjil Sampath on Tuesday denied that he would join the DMK. He said he was tired of speaking politics, but would continue to take part in literary meetings.
Speaking to DC about his decision to return the Innova car that was presented to him by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Sampath said he did not need the vehicle anymore since he had not attended public meetings for the last eight months.
The car is in the name of AIADMK treasurer O. Panneerselvam, Sampath said and added that when he called the Chief Minister's office and conveyed his decision to return the car, his personal assistant asked him to return the vehicle at the party headquarters. Sampath said he had sent the car to the headquarters as directed.
When asked if he would join the DMK, Sampath denied that he had any such plans and said no one should believe such speculation. "I have toured around the state for many years and addressed public meetings at all the places. I have spoken enough politics, but I want to concentrate on literary meetings and speak on various Tamil works".
However, in a letter to a Tamil bi-weekly, he had criticised the AIADMK leadership and the Chief Minister for not condemning the raids in the Secretariat premises. He also said "If Sasikala alone is qualified to become the leader, I do not have the qualification to accept her as my leader", he had added.
Sampath was removed from the deputy propaganda secretary post in January last year after he made some insensitive comments on the December 2015 floods in a couple of television interviews. He also made some scathing attacks on top politicians of the state in the interviews. From the DMK, he joined the MDMK in 1994 and later crossed over to the ruling party in 2012.