ADMK rebel ranks swell

Jayalalitha was adopting irregular and unfair means to try and stick on to the post of general secretary though overwhelming number of party workers were against her, he said.

Thirunavukkarasu said he had convened a meeting on Tuesday morning with senior leaders of the party, who had been expelled by Jayalalitha, in a bid to consolidate the forces of MGR loyalists against her. These rebel AIADMK leaders including S D Somasundaram, S Muthusamy and C Aranganayagam would attend the meeting, he added.

He said he had been in touch with many of these leaders in the last two days in the process of bringing together MGR supporters. The idea was to create an AIADMK minus Jayalalitha, he said.

On the statement of some Jayalalitha supporters asking for a CBI probe into alleged purchase of MPs, Thirunavukkarasu said it was an absurd and unbecoming charge being made on behalf of Jayalalitha. He stated that this was an “ideological conflict” between MGR loyalists and Jayalalitha’s “sycophants”.

Meanwhile, a supporter of Thirunavukkarasu told media persons that Jayalalitha would now realise the truth in the adage, Vinshakaale vipareetha buddhi.

Among those who visited Thirunavukkarasu on Monday was B Muniappa, the lone AIADMK MLA from Bangalore. He later told media persons that the revolt against Jayalalitha had spread to Karnataka and that over 90 per cent of the State unit had decided to support Thirunavukkarasu.

Muniyappa, accompanied by several party functionaries of the Karnataka unit and former councillors of Bangalore, said that the AIADMK rank and file in Karnataka was unhappy with Jayalalitha for having forsaken the ideals of late M G Ramachandran, and for destroying the party.

Extending support to Thirunavukkarasu, Muniyappa, who is also the president of the AIADMK unit in Karnataka, said Jayalalitha had brought discredit to the AIADMK due to her activities and style of behaviour, and had also tried to belittle the importance of MGR’s ideology.

With his support, the number of MLAs revolting against Jayalalitha’s leadership has risen to three Thirunavukkarasu in Tamil Nadu, S Anandavelu in Pondicherry and Muniyappa from Bangalore. Seven of the 14 MPs of the party have also stated that they owe allegiance to Thirunavukkarasu.

Muniyappa also said that partymen found it very difficult to meet Jayalalitha even when she was not in power and that she would do the party a good turn if she resigned as president.