His spurning of her invitation to talk was all she needed to expel him and three of his supporters for “anti-party” activities.
Next stop, the DMK
It’s no secret that “chinamma” (Sasikala Natarajan) is blamed for the AIADMK steadily losing ground. Over a period of time, she is believed to have put “her men” in the inner circle and sidelined loyalists. So loyalists have walked through the exit door into the waiting arms of the DMK.
All expectations are that Muthuswamy will join the DMK after his meeting with Kalaignar on June 7. As a result, the DMK will get stronger in the western districts, till recently considered an AIADMK stronghold. The AIADMK got its first jolt in that district when former minister T.M. Selvaganapathy crossed over to the DMK last year. “I quit the AIADMK, then Sathiamoorthy left and later Anita Radhakrishnan left too to join the DMK. The western region used to be MGR’s fort but now it has become a DMK bastion. The party nurtured by MGR is now being wasted in the hands of a coterie,” Selvaganapathy, who is now being nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the DMK, says.
Maybe Jayalalitha is listening because the earlier speculation that she will nominate Dr S Venkatesh, a relative of Sasikala, has turned out to be wrong. Instead she has opted for Manoj Pandian, the son of a former speaker. Also – even if belatedly – she seems to be plugging the vacuum in Erode district by nominating K V Ramalingam, Erode district secretary, to the Rajya Sabha. With the AIADMK MLAs numbering 57 and allies including MDMK, CPI and CPM coughing up 18 MLAs, her nominees are poised to go to the House of Elders.