CHENNAI: Even as the DMK leadership cracked the whip on the erring partymen for the party’s debacle in the December 21 RK Nagar by-election, local functionaries alleged that they were being made scapegoats in a bid to let the biggies off the hook.
Following the findings of a three-member probe panel set up by party’s working president M K Stalin to assess the root cause of the problem in RK Nagar where party candidate N Marudhu Ganesh ended up polling just 24,651 votes, forfeiting the deposit, 14 units at the divisional level were dissolved. Subsequently, all office-bearers of the units lost their positions in the party.However, seniors in North Chennai said it was not impartial action and it was not in accordance with the ground reality.
“Although several divisional level office-bearers have failed to carry out their poll duty in an efficient manner, they alone cannot be held responsible for the defeat,” a leader in RK Nagar said, adding, “We doubt there is an attempt to make the low level office-bearers scapegoats.”Another DMK cadre said action could be taken against district secretary S Sudharsanam and the two area committee secretaries for grossly failing to rise to the occasion in RK Nagar to outwit the eventual winner T T V Dhinakaran and E Madhusudhanan.
“Chennai North district secretary has failed to devise the strategy by sensing the ground situation and the rivals’ strategy. He did not make any effort to gel the partymen together to work for the candidate. In fact, he should be held responsible for the defeat along with two area secretaries, including candidate Marudhu Ganesh,” he said.
Partymen in North Chennai have alleged that the district secretary was according differential treatment to partymen and providing importance to men close to him based on caste.
Veterans in North Chennai found fault in the composition of the three-member probe panel, of which two are from North Chennai and close to Sudharsanam. “Two members of the committee are from advocates’ wing of the party. They are close to the district secretary. So how can their report be fair?” a leader said.
The probe panel led by DMK whip in Assembly R Sakkarapani comprises R Girirajan, secretary of advocates wing, and V Kannadasan, joint secretary. The overwhelming sentiment among a majority of the partymen in RK Nagar is that until and unless a thorough and impartial inquiry into the election defeat was done and responsibility fixed based on ground reality, the very purpose of revamping the RK Nagar unit could not be served.