I am a loyal cadre of the DMK, says Thiruchendur MLA dismissing defection rumours

‘I am a loyal cadre of the DMK, who has been wholeheartedly striving to make party President M K Stalin the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.’ So avers ‘Anitha’ R Radhakrishnan, Thiruchendur MLA and DMK’s party in-charge of Thoothukudi South District, through an open statement, reflecting the compulsions of the times.

‘For the past few days, some anti-social elements, with a view to spoiling my name, have been spreading falsehood about me through the social media,’ he said in the statement, which was basically meant to tell the world that he was not switching loyalties to the BJP as mentioned in those social media messages.

Close on the heels of Thousand Lights MLA Ku Ka Selvam’s trip to Delhi to call on the BJP national president J P Nadda followed by a visit to the BJP State headquarters In Chennai to a rousing welcome, the rumour mills have whirring with speculations about more defections from the DMK.

Though the trend was started by V P Duraisamy, a senior leader of the party, switching over the BJP and also landing in a party post, social media had been abuzz even before Selvam undertook the journey to Delhi apparently to seek help for installing a lift at the Nungambakkam railway station, raising the question ‘who next’, referring to a possible defection.

Keeping with the trend, after Selvam’s ‘did not join the BJP’ claim took the thunder out of the floating conjectures, more social media posts and tweets targeted Radhakrishnan in the southern district.

So now he had to come out with an open statement, expressing his loyalty to not just to Stalin but also the Youth Wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin and Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi by printing all their pictures on top of the statement and also proclaiming that nobody can separate him from the DMK and Stalin.

Radhakrishnan had also threatened legal action against rumour mongers if they indulged in such malicious campaigns in future.