CHENNAI: With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections just three months away, AIADMK's sitting MLA P K Sekar Babu representing R K Nagar constituency in Chennai switched his loyalties to the ruling DMK. He joined the party on Saturday in the presence of Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi.
Considered as a 'star MLA' of the AIADMK, Babu was reportedly wooed by the DMK ever since he was stripped of his party post.
Like his colleagues who left the AIADMK to join the DMK in the past, Babu too found fault with AIADMK leadership. But he refrained from criticising J Jayalalithaa. Instead, he said there were too many general secretaries in the AIADMK apart from Jayalalithaa.
Babu alleged that the party leadership had dumped him, despite all the sincere work. He said he had resigned as member of the State Assembly and submitted his resignation letter to the Chief Minister. (But a member of the House should submit resignation to the Speaker).
Speaking to reporters after meeting Karunanidhi, Babu said loyal workers never got respect in the AIADMK.
On February 5 last year, Kovilpatti MLA L Radhakrishnan met Alagiri and Karunanidhi and appealed to them to implement welfare measures for his constituency. Exactly a week later, Jeyankondam MLA K Rajendran also followed suit. Both of them attended the DMK general council meeting last year. On February 25, former Minister V Sathyamurthy joined the DMK.
Former ministers C Aranganayakam, K Ponnusamy and T M Selvaganapathy were among those who had quit the AIADMK in the recent years and joined the DMK. The first MLA who switched loyalties to the ruling party was S V Shanmugam from Madurai West constituency. Later, Anitha R Radhakrishnan moved to the DMK. Another AIADMK MLA and actor, S Ve Shekher, was expelled from the AIADMK.