NAMAKKAL : Days after his suspension from the party, the DMK’s Rajya Sabha member K P Ramalingam on Wednesday shot off an ‘explanation letter’ to the party chief M Karunanidhi accusing Stalin of witch-hunting.
Releasing the details of the three-page open letter during a press conference at his residence in Rasipuram, Ramalingam charged Stalin with abusing his power to humiliate a leader of his stature.
“What are the charges levelled against me? Who levelled those charges? Where did I campaign against the party’s candidates? Where did I speak against the party?,” he asked.
Questioning the rationale behind his suspension, Ramalingam said, “He (Stalin) has always adopted a master-slave approach towards us. He would not recognize us even if we waited for several hours at railway station or on road to receive him whenever he visited Namakkal. He has belittled the party’s farmers wing, and derided it in the presence of partymen,” Ramalingam claimed.
Posing questions to party patriarch Karunanidhi, Ramalingam said, “Is the spirit of self-respect, considered to be the lifeline of the party, only for the leadership? Can’t an activist like me have such spirit?” Terming the charges levelled against him as ‘baseless’, Ramalingam appealed to the party chief to accept his explanation that he had never betrayed the party.
Ducking questions on whether his proximity to M K Alagiri had cost him his party post, he said that the party decision had left his ‘heart broken’ and hurt his core values and feelings, besides tarnishing his political image.
K P Ramalingam, once very close to MGR, had switched loyalties after the demise of the former chief minister and joined the DMK in 1990. The veterinary graduate represented DMK in the Lok Sabha in 1996 and was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2010. Earlier, he was elected to TN Assembly from Rasipuram constituency twice in 1980 and 1984.