Gingee N Ramachandran, one of the senior leaders of the DMK and former Union Minister of State for Finance, joined the AIADMK on Thursday in the presence of party supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Ramachandran, while his son Dr R Manimaran called on Jayalalithaa at her residence and received their membership cards from her. Answering queries of mediapersons, Ramachandran said dynastic politics was ruling the roost in the DMK and the leadership of the party was only after the nurturing the welfare of the family. Criticising DMK treasurer MK Stalin, the veteran politician said the DMK was on the wane due to the ‘guidance’ of Stalin. Ramachandran was reportedly a supporter of Kanimozhi, but was sidelined in the party of late.
He had held many positions in the DMK in the past. He was among the many district secretaries of the DMK including L Ganesan, who quit the party and joined Vaiko to form the MDMK. Later, both had left the MDMK following differences with Vaiko. Elected to Lok Sabha three times, Ramachandran was the Union Minister of State for Finance for some time and the Union Minister of State for Textiles some time. He was also a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for three terms between 1977 and 1990.
Last year, former DMK Minister and long time functionary of the DMK Parithi Ellamvazhuthi joined the AIADMK. Recently, Panruti S Ramachandran joined the AIADMK, a few months after quitting the DMDK.