Thiruvananthapuram: In the run-up to the 2024 general elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) was negotiating with both the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss wanted to join hands with the Dravidian party while his son and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani was vying for the BJP. And in the eleventh hour, the party announced that it was joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for “national interest.”
Heading for the crucial assembly polls next year, the party has once again been looking at its options, and this time, the father wanted to ensure that he has full political control over any decision that the party plans to take.
It is these alliance musings that have once again exposed the rift between the PMK family. On Thursday, Ramadoss announced in Villupuram that he would take over the party’s leadership from his son with immediate effect. Without elaborating on the rationale, the 85-year-old said the decision was aimed at “guiding the younger generation and ensuring the party’s victory.” Ramadoss, however, clarified that his son will be working president and will continue to play a crucial role in the party’s preparation for the Tamil Nadu polls.
The move assumes significance as the decision was taken just a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah was to visit Chennai to meet BJP leaders and potential alliance partners on Friday. By Friday evening, Shah announced that the BJP and the AIADMK will contest the election together under the leadership of Edappadi K Palaniswamy.
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The father-son conflict
Political analysts ThePrint spoke to said the current rift between the PMK leadership is a clash of egos. Moreover, they said, Ramadoss doesn’t want to be a third wheel in an alliance engineered by the BJP by willingly holding talks. He wants to be cautious about his party’s next moves, ensuring that he retains its bargaining power.
“It seems that there is a difference of opinion between the father and son, not only on the alliances, but also on the party structure,” Tamil Nadu-based political analyst Maalan Narayanan said. “Ramadoss wants to keep his options open while choosing the alliance partner for the electoral benefit, while the son wants to go with the BJP.”
In December, the father and son had a heated exchange during the party’s new year general council meeting after the former appointed his grandson and the nephew of Anbumani P Mukundan as the leader of the party’s youth wing, which Anbumani openly objected to.
“He (Ramadoss) thinks that DMK has a fair chance of winning, and it would also give the PMK room for bargaining. But Dr Anbumani doesn’t think it would work as they have a different political stand on many issues, including the caste survey. VCK is also an ally of the DMK,” Maalan said.
The PMK was a partner in the BJP-AIADMK alliance in the 2021 assembly elections, with Ramadoss getting 23 seats, the BJP 20, and the AIADMK 191.
Another political analyst Ramasamy said Anbumani would like to be an ally of the BJP as he has more personal challenges, including a graft case, which will come back and haunt him if he doesn’t continue with the BJP.
Anbumani, the Union Health Minister during the first UPA government from 2004 to 2009, was facing a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly showing personal favours to two private medical colleges, one in Uttar Pradesh and another in Indore, for allowing admissions without adhering to rules.
On the face of it, the PMK members ThePrint spoke to said that the rift is a minor issue concerning the party’s “internal politics”.
However, a senior party leader said the party workers are not happy with the party veteran’s decision to demote Anbumani. “The party president was chosen by everyone as per the party’s bylaw and election commission rules. Everyone knows that the party’s future is with Anbumani,” the leader told ThePrint. “The younger generation supports Anbumani’s leadership and the decision on the party’s future. Any alliance will be clearer in a week as the party’s leadership will make the decisions soon.”
The options
Formed in 1989 to represent the Vanniyars, a community categorised as the Most Backward Caste (MBC), following the reservation protest in the 1980s, the PMK is predominant in northern pockets of Tamil Nadu. In 2021, the party that was part of the BJP-led NDA secured 3.80 percent votes and won five of the 23 assembly seats it contested. With 33.29 voteshare, the AIADMK won 66 of 191 seats, while the BJP managed only four out of the 20 seats with a voteshare of 2.62 percent.
The political equation in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were tricky for the PMK as the AIADMK cut off ties with the BJP. Though the party held discussions with both the parties, it chose to align with the BJP and contested 10 parliamentary seats and became the national party’s largest ally in Tamil Nadu. However, in an election where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance swept the entire state, winning all 39 seats, the PMK and the BJP had to settle for 4.33 and 11.24 percent voteshare. In contrast, the AIADMK secured 20.46 percent of the votes.
Political commentator N. Sathiya Moorthy said the PMK is a crucial player in Tamil Nadu due to its hold in the northern and western parts of the state and the five percent votes it managed to secure on its own every election.
“They have proved that they have a five percent committed vote bank, which is limited to northern and western districts. But last year, the party went with the BJP because of Anbumani’s interest. But it was not successful. When the BJP is moving for alliances one year ahead, it has also forced the PMK to get into a family showdown, which was delayed until last minute during the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
Ramadoss, Moorthy said, wants to wait as a BJP-led alliance will not benefit them to get votes.
“The BJP influences only a few pockets in Kanyakumari, and there is a strong sentiment against the party among the public. An alliance led by the BJP will not be of interest for both the AIADMK and the PMK.”
Ramasamy said even if the PMK decides to choose the BJP-AIADMK alliance, Ramadoss will prefer holding talks with the AIADMK and not the BJP, to maintain in the public that they are the partner of a Dravidian party. “Then they can say that they have an alliance with a state party and not with the BJP,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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