They may not be able to spell the word All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam without fumbling at least twice but they travelled all the way from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai. Nearly 200 leaders and activists of Janata Dal(U), Samajwadi Party and Congress from these States met party general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday and became primary members of the AIADMK.
Those who joined the AIADMK include Rakesh Kumar, general secretary, Janata Dal(U), Uttar Pradesh, Yogendta Kumar Pandey, leader of the NCP from UP, Bhopal Shaini, Muzafarnagar district secretary of Samajwadi Party and Sanjay Shaini, a member of the UPCC. Activists and workers of the AIADMK from Tamil Nadu, who are at home in their customary white veshti (bordered with the red and black party colours) welcomed the pyjama-kurtha brigade from North India with warmth. So, do not be surprised next time when you see kurtha-clad politicians spotting coloured pictures of Jayalalithaa in their pockets. It is an unwritten rule in Tamil Nadu that party leaders and workers belonging to the AIADMK and the DMK should carry pictures of Jayalalithaa or Karunanidhi or Stalin in their shirt pockets.
The entry of leaders from north Indian States to the AIADMK was facilitated by Dr V Mythreyan, a Rajya Sabha member of the party. The new entrants were in for a surprise when Jayalalithaa welcomed them to her party in chaste Hindi. “This is the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu that people from north India has become members of a Dravidian party,” said a political commentator.
The possibility of the AIADMK contesting from other States too have brightened up with Thursday’s signing up of “players” from north India. But Jayalalithaa has made it clear that her focus would be on winning all the 40 seats at stake from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
In yet another boost to the AIADMK, two MlAs belonging to the Vijayakant-led DMDK and Dr Ramdoss-led PMK called on Jayalalithaa to greet her on her birthday. With Arun Subramanian of the DMDK calling on Jayalalithaa, the number of MlAs of the DMDK has unofficially come down to 20 from 29.