Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S. Ramadoss on Thursday levelled serious accusations against his son and PMK working president Anbumani Ramadoss. The rift between the father and son which was brewing came out in the open as senior Ramadoss accused his son of internal sabotage, misconduct, disrespect towards party senior leaders and an attempt to hijack the party.
While addressing the media at his residence in Thailapuram, Tindivanam district, Ramadoss said that he was forced to speak out against his son, who pretended to be ignorant over his removal as party president. He said Anbumani’s “feigned ignorance was only an attempt to mislead the party cadres and garner sympathy.” He accused Anbumani of purposely creating internal disputes within the party, referring to the latter’s speech at a meeting in Dharmapuri recently.
Accusing his son of “behaving without basic decorum” Ramadoss recalled the event during a party meeting in Puducherry.
He said it was a mistake to have made his son as the union cabinet minister in 2004. Incidentally, it was Ramadoss who declared his son as the party president in 2022. Ramadoss also accused his son of lacking basic civility and raised several questions against Anbumani.
“Who overturned the stage setup, ignoring basic civility and party norms? I appointed Mukundan as the youth wing leader to assist me and help Anbumani with the party. But like a ball bouncing off a wall, opposition to his appointment was immediately voiced from the stage,” Ramadoss said.
Referring to Anbumani’s behaviour on the stage against him and throwing a microphone at him, Ramadoss said that it had tarnished the image of the party.
“Everyone was visibly shocked at the manner in which Anbumani put the mic onto the table. The mic barely missed hitting me on the head. This was an unseemly act. All those present at the meeting had witnessed it. This showed that he lacked leadership qualities,” Ramadoss accused.
He also said that Anbumani hurled a bottle at his mother during the Pongal celebrations at their Thailapuram residence. “He reacted this way when his mother said that Anbumani would have kept quiet if his daughter was appointed as the youth wing secretary.” Ramadoss also said that it was Anbumani who ensured that party senior leader G.K. Mani’s son G.K.M. Tamil Kumaran resigned from the youth wing secretary post. “He humiliated his family.” Ramadoss also said that this act of his son had only “shattered a big mirror with his demeanour” while recalling his early days of toiling across the state to build the party.
Stating that his son and daughter-in-law Sowmya Anbumani forced him to align with the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “Anbumani and Sowmya clung to my feet and begged. He said you (Ramadoss) would face a situation of doing the last rituals for me.”
However, sources close to Anbumani say that he will not react to his father’s accusations and is planning to conduct a three-day meeting with the party functionaries. He is likely to meet various district secretaries and office bearers of the party in a private marriage hall at Sholinganallur near Chennai for the next three days, in a bid to tighten his grip over the party.
“He will not utter even a single word on his father’s accusations,” said a senior leader on conditions of anonymity. Incidentally, the leader recalls Ramadoss’s statement on Tuesday during a meeting saying that everyone should strive to make Anbumani, the chief of the state. But things have changed upside down in the family as well as in the party in just 24 hours, according to the leader.
Apparently a major chunk of the party, except a few district office bearers and senior leaders, rallies behind Anbumani as he is looked at as the future of the party. The special executive committee meeting of the party held in 2022 elected him as the president of the party.
With this Ramadoss has completely tarnished his son’s image and the future of the party, at a time when Anbumani is expecting to begin fresh talks with the AIADMK to renew his Rajya Sabha membership.