Tindivanam (Tamil Nadu), Jun 14 (PTI) In a scathing attack on AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, senior party leader C Ve Shanmugam on Sunday claimed that the party’s electoral survival in its northern strongholds was entirely dependent on its allies, terming the seats won there as “alms given by the PMK”.
Launching an open rebellion against Palaniswami following a string of electoral reverses, the former minister alleged that the current leadership has plunged the party into an “autocratic slide” driven by personal egos, family influence, and financial interests.
Shanmugam, besides S P Velumani, had led the dissident AIADMK MLAs some time ago, before a patch.
“They shamelessly claim victory in 47 constituencies. How is that a victory? Out of those 47 seats, 31 constituencies are alms given by the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK),” a visibly furious Shanmugam, a former minister, told reporters here.
The senior leader represents Mailam Assembly constituency in the northern Villupuram district.
He asserted that without the alliance with the Anbumani Ramadoss-led PMK, the AIADMK would have drawn a blank across the crucial northern belt, adding that Palaniswami himself would have struggled to retain his home turf, Edappadi in Salem.
“If not for the alliance with the PMK, the AIADMK would have stumbled into a victory or lost heavily in northern districts like Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Dharmapuri, and even in (the western) Salem,” he said.
Slamming Palaniswami’s style of functioning, the senior leader alleged that the party, founded by the iconic M G Ramachandran (MGR) on the bedrock of anti-DMK sentiment, was losing its core ideological identity.
He claimed that a small clique of “sycophants” had insulated the general secretary from the harsh realities on the ground, where cadres and second-line leaders are abandoning the party “like a deck of cards.” Invoking party history, Shanmugam asked whether party founder MGR could ever be called a traitor just because the DMK leadership branded him as one when expelling him decades ago.
“When MGR was expelled from the DMK, they called him a traitor. So, did MGR become a traitor? He was the sole reason for the DMK’s victories, the reason why C N Annadurai and M Karunanidhi became chief ministers,” Shanmugam said, slamming Palaniswami for casually throwing the “traitor” label at dedicated workers leaving the party out of sheer frustration.
“After the demise of Jayalalithaa, the party has faced consecutive defeats, and its vote share is diminishing with every election. Everyone from the top headquarters to the grassroots cadre understands why we lost, except for one person — the general secretary,” Shanmugam added.
Drawing a sharp contrast with former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Shanmugam recalled she gracefully accepted accountability for the party’s severe rout in the 1996 assembly polls and personally visited the doorsteps of allies like the PMK, MDMK, and TMC to stitch together a winning coalition for the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.
“Amma had the stature to say, ‘I take responsibility for this defeat’. But today, the current leadership refuses to even acknowledge failure and lives in a dream world,” he added.
Warning of further political consequences if immediate course correction is not initiated, Shanmugam demanded that Palaniswami immediately convene the party’s Executive Committee or General Council to deliberate on the electoral setbacks, reiterating his demand in this connection.
“We have accommodated and accepted every decision made by the leadership over the last eight years, even when we disagreed. But we cannot remain silent when the party is being pushed toward annihilation. We will wait for some time for a meeting to be called. If not, we know our path forward. Do not push us to that edge,” Shanmugam warned.
Meanwhile, in a sharp counter-attack, AIADMK Villupuram South Town Secretary R Pasupathy strongly condemned Shanmugam for his remarks regarding the PMK alliance and party cadres.
Pasupathy accused Shanmugam of intentionally undermining the party’s electoral prospects in the region to satisfy personal agenda.
“He says that AIADMK cadres won the past elections on the ‘alms’ thrown by PMK, speaking of our cadres in a highly insulting manner. Then why, in the 2021 assembly elections, did he lose by a margin of 15,000 votes while contesting in an alliance with the PMK. In the 2019 parliamentary elections as well, AIADMK contested in alliance with the PMK, so why did it face defeat in the Villupuram parliamentary constituency then,” Pasupathy told reporters in Villupuram.
He stated that winning and losing with the combined strength of alliance partners is natural in a coalition. “But Shanmugam has spoken in a way that demeans and belittles AIADMK cadres.” He also noted that Shanmugam’s failure to deliver development led to his 2021 defeat against DMK’s R Lakshmanan, rather than sabotage by alliance partners. PTI JR JR SA
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