Coimbatore: Barely three months from the Parliamentary elections, the fledgling KNMK plunged into crisis as its leader, Best Ramasamy, reportedly quit politics to ‘pave way for youth’.
The KNMK, which made an impressive debut in the 2009 Parliamentary election, but came a cropper in the 2011 Assembly election after a tie-up with the DMK, has already suffered a vertical split with its key leader E.R. Easwaran, launching his own party, Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK).
Now, Best Ramasamy, who led the party since its formation has reportedly quit, making way for a new leadership. The party’s general secretary, G.K. Nagaraj, will take over as the next KNMK president, sources said. “The change is only in the leadership and the party will continue to fight for social issues,” Nagaraj said.
The party’s state and district level office bearers’ meet, held on Friday, has decided to conduct even a felicitation function for the leader for his contributions to society over the past 40 years.
In the parliamentary elections held in 2009, the fledgling KNMK emerged third, after P.R. Natarajan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and R. Prabhu of the Congress. The party contested 12 seats in Tamil Nadu, but won none. Similarly, in the 2011 general elections, it allied with the DMK and contested seven seats, but won none.
Easwaran split from the party and started the KMDK in March 2013. Nagaraj too had submitted his resignation, but it was not accepted by Ramasamy. After the party’s office bearers convened a meet Best Ramasamy announced his decision to quit the party.
