Madras High Court Judge invites PMK’s father-son duo for 'truce talks'

Chennai: Madras High Court on Friday night allowed the General Council meeting of PMK called by its chief Anbumani on Saturday as it disposed off a petition by his father S Ramadoss’s aide seeking a ban on the meeting.

The judgement came hours after in an unusual move, Justice N Anand Venkatesh invited Ramadoss and his son Anbumani to his chambers to explore the possibility of arriving at a truce between the warring father-son duo.

The judge suggested the meeting while hearing a petition filed by Murali Sankar, PMK general secretary, seeking a ban on the General Body meeting convened by Anbumani on Saturday – the petitioner, who owes allegiance to Ramadoss, alleged that the son had no powers to preside over the meeting since he was no longer the president.

The judge asked counsels of both Ramadoss and Anbumani to ensure that they are present at his chamber at 5.30 pm on Friday for an open discussion. Justice Venkatesh also said the father and his son should come alone to his chamber and their lawyers should also not accompany them.

While Anbumani appeared in person, Ramadoss appeared before the judge via video call, and the meeting is believed to have gone for two hours. An hour later, justice Venkatesh allowed the GC convened by Anbumani to be held.

The petitioner said since Anbumani’s tenure as president of the PMK on May 28, 2025, he was no longer empowered to convene the General Council and that only Ramadoss has the powers since he was now the president of the party.

The father and son have been at war with each other for the past few months making public statements against the other. The war of words turned into acrimony a week ago when Ramadoss accused Anbumani of planting a bugging device beneath his chair at his farm house in Thailapuram in Villupuram district.

While Anbumani convened a GC meeting on August 9, Ramadoss convened the GC on August 17, leading to the matter reaching the court.

The crisis in the party and the family was triggered in December 2024 after Anbumani objected to the appointment of P Mukundan, grandson of Ramadoss.

Since then, both the father and son have been blowing hot and cold against each other but with veiled references. Months later, the father removed the son as the president of the party by relegating him as working president and appointed himself to the post.

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.