Former AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP R Lakshmanan joined the DMK in the presence of party chief MK Stalin on Tuesday (August 18).
Lakshmanan during his time at the AIADMK was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the late former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. He had sided with the OPS faction (supporter of Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam) when the party was under doldrums post the leader’s demise. Later when the two factions merged, Lakshmanan was not given a Rajya Sabha ticket again when his term ended last year. He was also hoping to be made as district secretary of the party for the newly created party districts in Vizhupuram. However, Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam had prevented attempts to split the Vizhupuram party district.
Addressing the press at Arivalayam after joining the party, he expressed his thanks to a DMK chief Stalin and senior leader K. Ponmudi. Following this, he concluded saying “We will make Annan (brother) Edappadiyaar as the CM in 2021 Assembly elections” and later corrected it to MK Stalin.
Responding to the questions, he said that Tamil Nadu needs a strong government under a strong leadership and that is why he joined the DMK. He added that there was infighting in the AIADMK about who the next CM will be but the DMK was firmly under the control of MK Stalin.