Family feud spills over to street! Ramadoss calls Anbumani a 'misfit', removes him from PMK

Chennai: Deepening the crisis within the party and family, Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S Ramadoss on Thursday expelled his son and president Anbumani from the party, accusing him of being a “misfit” in politics.

The decision, according to Ramadoss, came after Anbumani failed to respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by the party seeking his explanation on his allegations against the leadership.

Ramadoss said since the PMK was founded by him, his decision was final and that no one can veto it. He also said Anbumani can launch a party on his own if he wants to be independent.

“Anbumani is trying to destroy the PMK. He is a misfit in politics and has acted unilaterally. Without my support, Anbumani would not have become what he is today. No one from the PMK should maintain any ties with Anbumani,” he said, announcing his decision to remove Anbumani from PMK.

The feud within the first family of the PMK turned murkier in August with Ramadoss alleging that it was his son Anbumani who planted a bugging device beneath his chair at his sprawling farmhouse in Thailapuram in Villupuram district.

Anbumani has remained silent on the allegations against by his father, even as he continues with his padayatra in northern parts of Tamil Nadu.

The senior Ramadoss had appointed himself as the president of the PMK in April after relegating his son as working president, setting the ball rolling for a confrontation which has been playing out in the open for the past two months.

Ramadoss has been upset with the PMK tilting towards the BJP for the past few years under Anbumani’s leadership. The party failing to win in its stronghold of Dharmapuri for the second consecutive Lok Sabha polls is cited as one of the factors that led Ramadoss to rethink about the party’s alliance strategy.

He wants the PMK not to water down its core agenda of uplifting the lives of Vanniyars and ally only with Dravidian parties, if needed. PMK, whose influence has been waning even among Vanniyars, still commands a committed vote bank of about 5 per cent and was part of the A B Vajpayee-led government and the UPA-I.

The party 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 aligned with the BJP after its experiment of going alone failed in 2016.