CHENNAI/VILLUPURAM: In perhaps the first open reproach against the recent actions of PMK founder S Ramadoss, party president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday said his father has become a child in the past five years due to old age.
According to party sources, Anbumani, who spoke candidly at a closed-door meeting of the party’s social media functionaries in Sholinganallur, refuted his father’s claims that the decision to ally with the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha election was taken without his full knowledge.
“If Ayya had expressed a preference for joining the AIADMK-led alliance, I would have honoured that decision too,” Anbumani reportedly said, while stressing that the alliance with BJP was formed after Ramadoss’s approval. Without taking names, he also accused three individuals of “taking advantage” of his father at the moment for their personal gains and steering the party in the wrong direction by creating confusion.
Reiterating his earlier allegation that the ruling DMK was behind the ongoing squabble within the PMK, Anbumani questioned the reason behind VCK leaders and MPs – Thol Thirumavalavan and D Ravikumar – praising Ramadoss. “Why this sudden admiration for Ayya? This appears to be part of a DMK-orchestrated ploy to destabilise PMK,” he reportedly said.
Anbumani said while he followed his father’s decisions without asking any questions in the past, the situation has changed now. “Ayya has changed. With age, he has become like a child,” he said.
Meanwhile, party’s honorary president GK Mani, who was in the hospital recently, met Ramadoss at his residence on Saturday.
He said his health had deteriorated due to the stress caused by the delay in resolving the differences of opinion between the two leaders. He said he was pained to see defamatory posts against him by a section of party members.