Claiming that PMK founder S. Ramadoss was “encircled by traitors and evil forces, who were the DMK’s stooges”, Dr. Anbumani on Tuesday said he will not go back to Dr. Ramadoss as long as the party patriarch was surrounded by them. “I say this with a heavy heart,” Dr. Anbumani said, speaking at a public meeting in Pennagaram, a PMK stronghold represented by G.K. Mani, a supporter of the party founder.
He accused the ‘traitors’ of splitting the party and creating a rift between the father and the son. “Ayya(Dr. Ramadoss) has been a social reformer for the past 47 years, but he has been waylaid by traitors,” he said.
Coming as it did on the heels of the attack on PMK Salem district secretary and MLA R. Arul, allegedly by Dr. Anbumani’s supporters, the mood at the public meeting was confrontational. It also became a stage for “washing the dirty linen in public”, with the functionaries accusing Mr. Mani of “aggrandising wealth after coming in as a ‘nobody’”.
Dr. Anbumani dedicated a significant portion of his speech to the “betrayals”, before shifting his focus to the DMK. Defeating the DMK and saving the State was the singular goal of his party, he said.
He also queried his audience as to why they rejected the PMK in the parliamentary elections, while they rejected the DMK in the Assembly elections (in Dharmapuri). Calling the upcoming elections as the most significant one, he called upon cadres to ensure the DMK lost its deposit.
