Can former Chief Minister and expelled AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam, who is inching closer to the DMK, defy the trend of AIADMK leaders failing to make a mark after aligning themselves with the DMK?
The earliest case of a senior AIADMK leader turning a critic of the party was S.D. Somasundaram, who was Minister for Revenue, Commercial Taxes and Food in the Cabinet headed by M.G. Ramachandran during 1978-84, according to a perusal of materials available with The Hindu archives.
When he began openly accusing MGR of corruption, Somasundaram, also called SDS, was dismissed from the Cabinet and expelled from the AIADMK. In the 1984 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, he tried to strike a deal with the DMK, but the talks failed. SDS’ party, Namadhu Kazhagam, fielded candidates in 150 Assembly constituencies and 15 Lok Sabha constituencies, but its performance was disastrous. SDS himself lost the deposit in his home constituency of Pattukottai, from where he was elected in 1980 on the AIADMK ticket. In 1986, he returned to his parent party. After the Dravidian major’s defeat in 1996, SDS briefly aligned with rebels. Again, he led a party, Puratchi Thalaivar Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which merged with the AIADMK after his death in 2001.
