Chennai: Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam strongman and party's propaganda secretary Thanga Tamilselvan is all set to join the DMK on Friday with a large contingent of his followers from native Theni, sources said.
Once a close confidant of AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran, Tamilselvan has now turned against the party leadership amid speculation that he was negotiating with both the DMK and the AIADMK for admission. While TTV pulled him up for stating in TV shows sometime back that the AMMK would join hands with the DMK to demolish the AIADMK, Tamilselvan found the party boss slighting him in recent months. TTV also blamed him for the recent poll debacles, sources said.
The climax in this simmering hostility between the two blew up into an open war after the audio of his threatening phone call to a TTV aide, accusing the leader of cowardice went viral recently, causing TTV to announce before a media conference on Wednesday that he would soon divest Tamilselvan of his positions as the (Theni) district secretary and AMMK propaganda secretary. The latter dared him to take action against him and simultaneously held discussions with his followers at Madurai, where the decision to join the DMK at once was reportedly taken. For the DMK, the party's weak presence in the Thevar-dominated Theni district and the surroundings down south would be corrected to a large extent by Tamilselvan joining the party. Even during Jayalalithaa's reign-she had made him a Rajya Sabha member during 2002-2008-he had competed against senior minister O Panneerselvam for dominance in their Theni-Andipatti region. Amma made him the district secretary while OPS has been a long-time minister, so their rivalry often produced visible fireworks in the AIADMK. When TTV launched his AMMK, with the blessings of jailed aunt V K Sasikala, Tamilselvan became a natural lieutenant for the rebel.
While speculation gained momentum that the tiff with TTV could result in Tamilsevan's return to parent party, the AIADMK, there was stiff resistance from the OPS camp with many AIADMK members and functionaries passing a resolution asking the party leadership not to readmit him. They also put up posters in several places in the district.
Considering that the political environment in the AIADMK was pretty hostile to his homecoming, Tamilselvan found he had no option but to join the DMK as continuance in the AMMK became impossible after the open tiff with TTV. The AMMK too had pasted posters in Madurai and some other parts down south slamming Tamilselvan as a 'traitor'.
The coming of Tamilselvan could surely strengthen the DMK in his Thevar-dominated southern districts. Already, the migration of former AIADMK minister Senthil Balaji to the DMK has helped the party significantly in his Karur district and also the neighbourhood areas dominated by his Gounder community in the Kovai belt. Balaji is said to be trying hard to woo over the AIADMK strongmen over to the DMK.
Also, the joining of ex-AIADMKians such as Sekar Babu (Chennai), KKSSR Ramachandran (Virudhunagar), Anita Radhakrishnan (Thoothukudi), Karuppusami Pandian (Nellai), S Muthusamy (Erode) and Ms Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan (Erode), to name only a few, has significantly added political muscle and financial strength to the DMK in those regions.
