Chennai:PMK founder S Ramadoss and his son and the party’s president Anbumani Ramadoss had a spat in the open at the party general council meeting at Puducherry on Saturday over the nomination of P Mukundan, grandson of Ramadoss and nephew of Anbumani Ramadoss, as president of the PMK youth with indicating a possible split in the party, which is an ally of the BJP.
With Ramadoss telling his son that he could leave the party if could not follow his dictates at the meeting itself and Anbumani Ramadoss announcing the opening a separate office at Panaiyur and sharing the telephone number for his supporters to contact him, the grapevine was rife with speculations over the rift between the father and son getting widened.
Mukundan, who is the son of Gandhimathi, the eldest daughter of Ramadoss, had joined the PMK only four months back in the IT wing and the objection of Anbumani Ramadoss was that it was not fair to give positions to those who are new to the party.
But Ramadoss who proposed the name in the meeting told the gathering and also to Anbumani Ramadoss that anyone not willing to follow his dictates could leave the party, founded by him. Since the angry exchange between the father and son caused a flutter in the meeting itself.
What gave more grist to the rumour mills was Anbumani Ramadoss telling the party general council members of his separate office at Panniyur. With Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) founder president Vijay meeting Sangamitra, the daughter of Anbumani Ramadoss, a few days ago, rumours are being circulated that a political tie-up between TVK and PMK was in the offing.
Though Vijay had called on Sangamithra in connection with the Tamil film Alangu, for which she is the co-producer, her interest in politics, which came to light during the Lok Sabha elections when she campaigned for her mother Sowmya Anbumani, the NDA candidate from Dharmapuri constituency, has triggered the speculation on the political tie-up.
Saturday’s open fight between father and son was sought to be played down by senior functionaries of the PMK while it is rumored that the PMK founder and president were not on good terms for quite some time. In an earlier occasion too Ramadoss had intervened during the speech of Anbumani Ramadoss to shoot down his ideas.
Since Anbumani Ramadoss was the one who wanted the PMK to align with the BJP in the elections and Ramadoss had opposed it, both were not seeing eye to eye on party affairs now, sources said, adding that Saturday’s incident only proved that. Perhaps Anbumani Ramadoss now wants to tie-up with TVK and that could have angered Ramadoss, some say.
