Infighting takes centre stage at key PMK meet
Internal conflicts in PMK surfaced as only 13 of 220 leaders attended a meeting, highlighting tensions between founder S Ramadoss and his son Anbumani.
The internal tussles in NDA ally Pattalli Makkal Katchi (PMK), an influential party among the dominant community of Vanniyars, was wide open on Friday with just 13 out of the 220 district office-bearers of the party turning up for a meeting convened by founder S Ramadoss.
The patriarch recently on April 11 took over the party from his son, successor and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss. The father made himself president of the PMK once again and announced that Anbumani would be its working president. Anbumani subsequently challenged his father asserting that he continues to be the party chief since he was elected by PMK’s general council.
Though the duo sat next to each other during PMK’s youth conference conducted after 12 years on May 11, senior Ramadoss didn’t mince words over his unhappiness of there being various factions within the party. The conference was attended by lakhs of PMK cadres and people from the Vanniyar community in Chennai. The 85-year-old senior Ramadoss had said that he would have the last word on the party, its alliance and its functioning ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
And, on Friday, he had invited the office bearers to his residence in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district. But, only 15 of them turned up. However, Ramadoss said that nobody boycotted his invite but those who could not attend the meeting spoke to him over phone to express their inability to attend. “Maybe, they were exhausted after attending the party’s conference at Mamallapuram, recently (on May 11)….Lion’s legs have not become weak nor lion’s aggression,” Ramadoss told reporters. He also added that they will contest 2026 in alliance with other parties. “It shows that support in the party is tilting towards his son,” said a PMK leader not wishing to be identified.
Ramadoss and Anbumani have been sparring publicly since December 2024. Anbumani had objected to Ramadoss’ decision to appoint his nephew as the youth wing chief of PMK. Those in the know of the power struggle have been saying that while the PMK has been in alliance with the BJP, Ramadoss was keen to align with the AIADMK. He removed Anbumani from the post of party president (which he was holding since 2022) on April 11 on the day Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Chennai. On the following day Shah announced that the BJP and AIADMK have patched up after 19 months and will fight the 2026 elections together.
At the youth conference last week, Anbumani praised his father for his effort for over 45 years with the Union government which has now announced conducting a caste census. But, the father did not return the kind words and said that the cadre are not working hard enough.
PMK is a key regional player wielding influence over the Vanniyar community - their core vote bank of roughly 5%
