Differences between PMK's Ramadoss and his son Anbumani come to fore during party meet

Chennai: Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK) plunged into a political crisis on Saturday after simmering differences between its founder S Ramadoss and his son Anbumani over running the party played out in the open on Saturday at the Special General Council meeting in Puducherry. 

Anbumani, the party’s president and former Union Health Minister, took serious objection to his nephew Parasuraman Mukundan’s appointment as youth wing chief and disagreed with his father, who asserted that was the “party’s boss” and that anyone who disagrees with his decisions “can leave.” 

Mukundan, the son of Ramadoss’ elder daughter Gandhimathi, is the latest member from the family to take a plunge into politics. Anbumani probably thought that another family member holding an important position would not just undermine his authority but also lead to another power centre. 

At one point, Anbumani, ignoring his father’s speech, told his supporters that he had opened an office in Panaiyur near Chennai to meet party cadres and gave a telephone number to contact him. Anbumani’s objections to Ramadoss’ announcements evoked applause from cadres who shouted slogans in favour of the former. 

The heated political exchange on a public forum underlined the faultlines within the regional party led by the Ramadoss family. PMK, which came into being in 1989 primarily to espouse the cause of Vanniyars, had swung like a pendulum between DMK and AIADMK for decades together, and is now in an alliance with the BJP after its experiment of going alone failed in 2016. 

PMK, whose influence has been waning even among Vanniyars a dominant community spread across northern and Central parts of Tamil Nadu and classified as Most Backward Class (MBC), commands a committed vote bank of about 5 per cent and was part of the A B Vajpayee-led government and the UPA-I. 

Saturday’s incident led to intense speculation over PMK heading towards a split as reports of the father-son developing serious differences  on a host of issues, including running the party and its future plans, have been doing the rounds for the past several months. It is believed that Ramadoss was in favour of the PMK aligning with the AIADMK, while his son insisted on an alliance with the BJP for 2024 polls, which eventually fructified. 

What was believed to be a routine GC meeting turned into an intensely debated issue on social media after Ramadoss, at the end of the event, declared Parasuraman Mukundan as the chief of the youth wing to assist Anbumani to win at least 50 assembly seats in the 2026 polls. 

“To assist me? I don’t need (his assistance),” Anbumani said, in a surprise to Ramadoss. “He (Mukundan) joined the party only four months ago. You want him to be the youth wing chief. He lacks experience and if you want (someone to assist me), appoint someone with experience of working on the field,” Anbumani said, even as cadres cheered his speech.  

At this point, a visibly peeved Ramadoss interjected Anbumani to say the PMK belonged to him, and everyone had to fall in line with his decisions. “This is a party that I launched and built. Everyone has to accept and agree to my decision. There is no other way. If someone doesn’t agree, they can go,” Ramadoss told Anbumani. 

The body language of the father and son on the stage gave ample indications that all was not well between them. A majority of the party leaders now side with Anbumani with only a couple of old-timers still owing allegiance to the senior politician.

After the heated exchanges, senior leaders of the party met Ramadoss and held discussions on the incidents at the meeting and stressed on the need to be “united.”