Madurai: ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth is on a firm wicket in his home ground. The dissidence seems to be happening elsewhere in the state as far as the district units of DMDK and neigbouring districts are concerned. They are all rallying behind Vijayakanth with the sole aim of seeing him ascend the chair as chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
“We only aspire to see captain as CM of the state. Nothing else matters, whoever is with us or not, we will stand by Captain,” D Siva Muthukumar, Madurai Town district secretary of DMDK told DC. As soon as they heard about senior DMDK functionaries, led by VC Chandrakumar, revolting against their party leader, the district unit leaders made a call to Captain on Wednesday morning to express their solidarity. “Nobody can destabilise the DMDK cadre’s strength, which solely depends on Vijayakanth’s charisma,” said P Balachandran, rural north district secretary.
When asked about DMDK state joint secretary Murugesan from Theni joining the rebels, M.N. Krishnamoorthy, the party district secretary from Theni, claimed that Murugesan does not have single supporter in the district. “When Captain expelled his from the party, the DMDK cadres did not show any resentment here,” he pointed out.
DMDK Virudhunagar district secretary, M Syed Kaja Shareef, said the Captain had decided to join the PWF alliance only after listening to the opinion of all senior party cadres in the party executive committee meeting. “In the meeting we all unanimously told him to join that alliance which would accept him as chief minister candidate. Even in the previous Assembly election, he decided to join the AIADMK only due to our compulsion,” he said.
“If Chandrakumar had any difference of opinion he should have expressed it in the meeting. Instead, he also told him to ally with political parties that would declare him as CM candidate. The high command had video-recorded the event and he can’t say otherwise now,” Shareef warned. Condemning Chandrakumar’s statement that he lost his properties because he spent his money for DMDK’s development, Siva Muthukumar said, “Politics is not a business; it is a platform to serve the people, which is what Captain taught us.”
Muthukumar had contested as DMDK candidate in the 2014 parliamentary election and also in 2007 by-election in Madurai south constituency. “I lost in both the elections, but I never blamed the party for this. Instead, I am striving hard to strengthen the DMDK base in Madurai,” he added. Unlike other political parties, the DMDK cadre base is mostly from Vijayakanth’s fan clubs. “All the cadres in Sivaganga districts are Captain’s fans. Some functionaries in the party might be interested in joining with DMK, but once Captain made a decision we all stand by it,” said P Thiruvengadam, the district secretary.
