Family feud turns murkier as Ramadoss accuses son Anbumani of planting bugging device under his chair

The latest allegation by Ramadoss against Anbumani has further widened the rift between the father and son.

Chennai: The feud within the first family of the Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK) turned murkier on Saturday with party founder S 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. 

Based on a complaint filed by Ramadoss, sleuths from the Villupuram District police and cybercrime department visited his residence and inspected the devices.

Even as the police investigation is underway, the PMK founder accused Anbumani of being the “first son” in the world to have eavesdropped on his own father and said he has hired a “special agency” to get to the bottom of the “very serious issue.” 

Saturday’s allegation by Ramadoss against Anbumani has further widened the rift between the father and son, who have been fighting in the open since December 2024. 

“If there is a son who spied on his own father; he exists. He has eavesdropped on me. I have complained to the police regarding the bugging device found in my house. We have handed over the equipment to the police. I have also hired a special agency to find out who is behind this entire episode. They will submit a report to me soon,” Ramadoss said.

The special agency will only help the police investigation, the PMK founder said. 

The allegations also comes a day after the two convened separate General Council meetings on different dates – while Ramadoss has announced that the meeting will be held on August 17, Anbumani has scheduled the meeting on August 9. 

Ramadoss also called the GC meeting convened by his son as “illegal” since he has not followed the mandatory 15-day window period, while Anbumani camp is resolute in going forward with the meeting apparently to elect him as the president of PMK for another term since his term ended in March this year.

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.