Making Anbumani a Cabinet Minister was my mistake: PMK founder Ramadoss

The Hindu

29-05-2025

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss on Thursday (May 29, 2025) accused his son and party 'working president' Anbumani Ramadoss of having functioned in a 'no holds barred' manner and disregarding qualities of leadership, affecting the growth of the party.
At a press conference at his Thailapuram residence near Puducherry, Mr. Ramadoss launched a blistering attack on his son. 'It was my mistake that I had made Anbumani a Central Cabinet minister when he was 35 years old,' said Mr. Ramdoss, who had recently declared that he was taking over as 'party president,' a post that was held by Mr. Anbumani.
Referring to Mr. Anbumani's speech at a meeting in Dharmapuri recently, where he stated that he was under mental stress and at a loss to understand why he was removed from the post of PMK president, Mr. Ramadoss said his son has been coming out with such statements only to to distract the party and its rank and file to garner sympathy. This, he said, only raises concerns.
'Lacks leadership qualities'
Mr. Ramadoss said when he made an attempt to appoint his grandson Mukunthan as the youth wing secretary of the party during the general council meeting held near Puducherry, Mr. Anbumani had publicly protested it.
'This tarnished the image of the party, and everyone was visibly shocked,' he said. The manner in which Mr. Anbumani flung the mic onto the table, 'which barely missed hitting me on the head' was an 'unseemly act', and all those present at the meeting had witnessed it. This showed that he lacked leadership qualities, Mr. Ramadoss said.
The senior leader, who was instrumental in floating the PMK, said Mr. Anbumani had only 'shattered a big mirror with his demeanour'. Mr. Ramadoss recalled how he built the party by visiting more than 95,000 villages to develop the roots of the organisation amongst the public. 'I was bereft of food and drinking water while visiting the villages, and all this came to naught and was tarnished by Mr. Anbumani,' he lamented.
Alleging that Mr. Anbumani continued to pose a hurdle in the party's growth by committing several mistakes, Mr. Ramadoss said he had appointed Tamil Kumaran, son of party honorary president G.K. Mani, for the party's development and had issued the appointment order to him.
However, Mr. Anbumani asked Mr. Kumaran to resign from the post immediately. 'He also called me over the phone and prevailed upon me to ensure that Mr. Kumaran, who had come with his family to attend the general council meeting, did not take part in it,' he said.
Mr. Kumaran's family was humiliated and Mr. Anbumani did not even allow them to attend the deliberations, said Mr. Ramadoss. Mr. Anbumani also disrespected senior functionaries, including Mr. Mani and late Vanniyar Sangam president Kaduvetti J. Guru.
He alleged Mr. Anbumani, while participating during the Pongal celebrations at Thailapuram, had made an attempt to attack his mother by hurling a bottle, though it did not hit her. He reacted this way when his mother said that Mr. Anbumani would have kept quiet if his daughter was appointed as the youth wing secretary.
'Forced alliance with BJP'
Stating that the PMK and the AIADMK were natural allies, and had they contested the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2024 as an alliance, they would have bagged 10 seats, he said. But Mr. Anbumani insisted that the PMK work out a pact with the BJP and argued that if it did not do so, 'you (Ramadoss) would face a situation of doing the last rituals for me,' Mr. Ramadoss alleged.
Mr. Ramadoss also alleged that both Mr. Anbumani and his wife Sowmya Anbumani had 'clung to his feet' and insisted that the party formed an alliance with the BJP in 2024.