CHENNAI: After at least a 1,000 members of the AMMK and AIADMK jumped ship to the ruling DMK since the Assembly polls, leaders of both parties have turned to technology to devise a ‘loyalty’ test for their flock. The functionaries are required to put up party-related ‘Whatsapp statuses’ daily with failure to do so drawing the suspicion of the party leadership.
One of the northern district functionaries of the AMMK, name withheld upon request, told Express, “We have separate groups on Whatsapp for district functionaries, union-level functionaries and others of various wings. One former minister from the region is also a member in the groups to monitor the activities on behalf of the leadership. Every day, he has been monitoring the Whatsapp statuses of the functionaries after some of them switched their loyalty to other parties last month.”
The functionary elaborated, “The former minister will call up the district functionary in the morning to check on the second-rung cadre if they fail to put up any party-related status. He sometimes calls the particular functionary directly if something ‘suspicious’ is noticed in their statuses.”
It is learnt that in every region, some of the State leaders and former ministers have been assigned to carry out this monitoring on behalf of the AMMK leadership. An individual’s WhatsApp status has now become a sign of a member’s loyalty to the party.The situation is similar in the AIADMK as well. IT wing functionaries in the Opposition party say the district leaders are told to monitor the social media handles cadres.
One of the western district functionaries of the AIADMK’s IT wing, on condition of anonymity, told Express, “After a few party members defected to the DMK, our district secretary asked me to keenly monitor cadre’s WhatsApp status and social media posts. He also instructed me to alert him immediately if we (IT wing cadre) felt that something was fishy. Hence, we have been following the instructions for the last two weeks.”However, it is not clear if each faction of the AIADMK’s dual leadership is also keeping tabs on their followers’ social media footprints.
Big names who joined the DMK
From AIADMK
Former MLA A Rajan
Former MP PG Narayanan
Former MP NR Govindaraj
Former MP MG Sekar
Former MLA Selvi Murugesan
Former MP Vijila Sathyananth
From AMMK
Namakkal south district secretary PP Saminathan
Salem Central district secretary & former MLA SE Venkatachalam
Former minister VD Nataran Ramanathapuram district secretary VDN Anand