With four top leaders of the MDMK crossing over to the DMK on the last four days, a plan to disintegrate the MDMK hatched by the DMK has come out in the open. Since Sunday, four leaders of the MDMK have crossed over to the DMK.
Friday saw Masilamani, treasurer of the MDMK, announced his resignation from the primary membership of the party. “I am quitting the MDMK disgusted with the decision of Vaiko to join forces which are weakening the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu,” Masilamoni told reporters on Friday. Hundreds of MDMK workers are expected to follow him and quit the party soon.
Having failed in bringing the MDMK to its camp in the run-up to the next Assembly elections expected to take place in early 2016, DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi has deputed a team to negotiate with the disgruntled section in the MDMK who want to re-join the Dravidian major.
The strategy paid off and the result has been satisfying for the DMK, struggling hard to form a strong alliance to take over the mighty AIADMK which is riding high on popular support because of Jayalalithaa’s people friendly initiatives.
The MDMK cadre have understood that the party could survive in Tamil Nadu only as an ally of either the AIADMK or the DMK. Vaiko’s efforts to prove his strength in Tamil Nadu has come a cropper since 1999, the last time he got elected as a constituent of the BJP-led NDA in which the DMK too was a partner. The MDMK managed to win two seats on the 2004 lok Sabha election. But it was because of the magnanimity of the DMK. Since then Vaiko and the MDMK are in political wilderness.
Though the MDMK contested the 2014 lok Sabha election as an ally of the BJP, it could not win even a single seat. Vaiko bite the dust from Sivakasi in spite of the best efforts by the central leadership of the BJP. Having understood the ground reality that Vaiko has no constituency of his own in Tamil Nadu, most MDMK leaders are on the verge of joining the DMK, their ancestral home.
Thursday night saw KCV Thamaraikannan, Salem district secretary of the MDMK and one of the founding members, jumping fence and shifting loyalty to Karunanidhi. “In a meeting of district secretaries he convened in July, Vaiko had told that the MDMK would form alliance with the DMK for contesting the assembly election. But later he chose to join the People’s Welfare Movement without informing the district secretaries,” said Thamaraikannan.
But what shocked Vaiko was the decision of Kumari Vijayakumar, the women’s wing secretary of the party to join the DMK. Kumari Vijayakumar is known as the conscience keeper of Vaiko who consults her before any decision is made. “This is only the beginning. The next few weeks will see most of the MDMK leaders crossing over to the DMK,” said one of the state-level leaders.
Vaiko, a firebrand leader of the DMK, was thrown out of the party by Karunanidhi in 1993 when he found that the former was emerging as a rallying point threatening the political career of Stalin, the patriarch’s son. “Vaiko has no political relevance in Tamil Nadu. He is only of nuisance value. The MDMK cadre has understood the reality,” said N Kalyanasundaram, Tamil Nadu’s political historian.
But Vaiko is not perturbed over the developments. Speaking to reporters, he said the cadre is still with him only. “People who enjoyed fruits of power left the party in search of greener pastures. The MDMK will remain strong,” he said.