Tamim Ansari, MH Jawahirullah to leave MMK divided

Hours later, Ansari, who had actually called for a meeting of the general council members separately at Egmore and subsequently called it off, told reporters in the evening that, “We are the real MMK. Jawahirullah does not have the power to expel or sack me. As per the party by law no: 13, only I (general secretary) am authorized to convene the general council. The council convened by him (Jawahirullah) is illegal”

Squarely blaming Jawahirullah for the rift, Ansari accused the former of acting unilaterally and said, “Differences existed between Jawahirullah and others party leaders for the last eight years. Be it speaking in the Assembly or other political decisions, he never consulted anyone. He always decided and informed people.”

Taking potshots at the professor turned MLA, Ansari said, “Jawahirullah could not digest my (and deputy general secretary Haroon Rashid’s) growing popularity among cadres and hence he had convened an emergency general council without my knowledge and got me sacked.”

Grapevine has it that Ansari broke ranks with the Jawahirullah over the latter warming up to the AIADMK. Ansari may have had reasons to doubt the intentions of Jawahirullah, if one were to go by the recent statements of the latter, especially those made in the Assembly, which were conspicuously cordial to AIADMK.

Dismissing allegations that the DMK was behind the split, Ansari said, “Neither Kalaignar nor Jayalalithaa are behind this. The rift happened because of Jawahirullah’s jealousy.”. In the same breath, supporters of Jawahirullah confided that though they don’t suspect the hand of DMK behind the episode, Ansari’s recent actions given enough to suspect a DMK role in this.