Rebels serve Vijayakanth an ultimatum: 1 day to go with DMK

Chandhirakumar called the alliance “suicidal” for the party and cadres.

V C Chandirakumar (centre) and other rebels in Chennai. Arun Janardhanan

A day after Captain Vijayakanth sacked 10 leaders from his party, DMDK, the rebels led by V C Chandirakumar, who was the party’s propaganda secretary, addressed journalists claiming the disciplinary action was not valid and they would wait for a day for Vijayakanth to change his mind and ally with the DMK.

Chandirakumar said many members of the disciplinary committee have themselves joined his camp demanding an alliance with the DMK. He added the party is no longer under the control of Vijayakanth. “It is unfortunate that it is his wife Premalatha who is taking the decisions now,” Chandirakumar said. “Our leader Captain has no control of crucial decisions. In fact, his wish was to go with the BJP but they did not agree to many of his terms. Later, it was Premalatha who held several round talks with Vaiko and finalised the deal with the People’s Welfare Front.”

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Chandhirakumar called the alliance “suicidal” for the party and cadres. He said many leaders who had pledged their wealth and property to contest elections have now started demanding their money back. He called the alliance a B-team of the AIADMK as Vjayakanth’s decision to go with the PWF would tacitly support Jayalalithaa’s comeback. “We heard that Vaiko received several crores for this deal with DMDK,” he said.

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Many of Vijayakanth’s loyalists expressed anger at the rebels. Reacting to Chandirakumar’s statement that they would wait for Captain to reconsider, DMDK HQ secretary B Parthasarathy said Captain can forgive his enemies but not betrayers.

Vaiko accused DMK leader M K Stalin of poaching on DMDK leaders. Stalin refused to react to Vaiko’s allegation that he had bribed the DMDK leaders, saying he need not comment on another party’s internal crisis.

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