The repercussions of the Karnataka High Court verdict absolving J Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK general secretary, from all charges in the Disproportionate Assets case has been felt in the main Opposition party, DMK, which suspended two of its prominent southern regional satraps.
V Karuppasamy Pandian, the powerful secretary of the Tirunelveli district of the DMK and Anitha R Radhakrishnan — a sitting MlA of the DMK — were suspended from the primary membership of the party by K Anbazhagan, the 94-year-old general secretary of the DMK. Pandian shocked the party leadership on Monday when he wished and greeted Jayalalithaa.
“Pandian and Radhakrishnan are being suspended from the party for violation of party discipline. Their actions and utterances have brought disrepute to the party,” the ailing Anbazhagan said in a statement on Thursday.
Earlier, both Pandian and Radhakrishnan were in the AIADMK. Pandian, once a strongman in the AIADMK was close to party founder MG Ramachandran. He was ousted from the party in 2000 by Jayalalithaa. Radhakrishnan, who was a sitting MlA in the AIADMK was expelled by the AIADMK chief in 2009. Since their expulsions from the AIADK both Pandian and Radhakrishnan switched their loyalties to the DMK.
R Radhakrishnan has been complaining for quite some time that he was being treated “shabbily” by the party leadership.
“I am being treated like a criminal in the DMK. Since my services are not needed in the DMK, I am always available to work as a foot soldier of Amma (Jayalalithaa),” Radhakrishnan told media persons in Chennai. He said more people from the DMK would switch their allegiance to the AIADMK in the coming days.
Pandian, who was arrested in connection with a land-grabbing charge in 2011, has been maintaining a low profile since then. In 2013, he was accused by a woman activist of the DMK that he had tried to sexually molest her.
Sources in the DMK said there was widespread discontentment in the party following the highhanded attitude of some of the members of the Karunanidi clan.