Anbumani: From CM candidate in 2016, acceding 23 seats in 2021

In the last assembly poll, the PMK had projected him as its chief ministerial face with the slogan “Change Development Anbumani”, but was left to lick its wounds after a severe drubbing, writes R.Lenin, Senior Reporter, ETV Bharat, Chennai.

Chennai: Giving up his Chief Ministerial ambition, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss has meekly acceded to be a 'junior partner' of the AIADMK for the April 6 assembly election.

In the last assembly poll, the PMK had projected him as its chief ministerial face with the slogan “Change Development Anbumani”, but was left to lick its wounds after a severe drubbing.

After dragging its feet for long, the PMK finally settled for 23 seats conceded by the Dravidian major and the deal was inked on Saturday.

In the last assembly elections, the PMK contested all the 234 elections alone and could secure only 5.3% votes. Then, during the run-up to the poll, Dr Ramadoss said his son's first sign on a file as Chief Minister would be with a pen granted by him, on the complete prohibition of liquor.

Moreover, the tagline 'Maatram, Munnetram, Anbumani' (change, development), borrowed from Obama's campaign, was intended to galvanise the cadre and retain the party's support base which was drifting away.

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While PMK was routed in the 2016 elections, even Anbumani, the then sitting MP, could not win in his own constituency of Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district.
Contesting alone, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) won a vote share of 5.3 per cent in the assembly elections. Since then, the tagline Maatram, Munnetram of the former Union minister had gradually been vanishing.

Adding insult to injury was his second consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2019 in the Dharmapuri constituency. "Left with no option, a rattled Anbumani himself should have changed his tack and ambition. There is no other option for the sitting Rajya Sabha MP to have a high-level position in the Tamil Nadu political forum," opine political analysts.

As far as Anbumani is concerned, it is only 'Maatram' (change), as he was lowered from PMK's CM face to ordinary MP. On the other hand, there is no 'Munnetram' (development), since the party was forced to wait with bated breath to clinch the deal with AIADMK in connection with the party's long demand of internal quota of Vanniyar community and seat-sharing to face the upcoming elections.

This is a clear indication that no political parties, except two major parties- AIADMK and DMK, could emerge in the Dravidians' soil to claim as CM face. On Saturday, Anbumani maintained, "the AIADMK-ruling party fulfilled PMK's longstanding demand of 10.5 sub-reservation for Vanniyars in the education and employment sectors. Hence, we decided to settle for 23 seats in the AIADMK alliance".

While the PMK has been vocal about the enforcement of total prohibition, the AIADMK which too has promised total prohibition is yet to deliver. The ruling party has closed 500 liquor shops a couple of times in the past decade but still has a long winding road up ahead. Revenue from TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) accounts for about Rs 100 crore per day, and a prime contributor to State's coffers.

"It is our party's founder, Ramadoss, who insisted on total prohibition from the beginning in the state. We will continuously demand the AIADMK to impose enforcement of total prohibition in a phased manner", the former Union health minister maintained.

"Anbumani had to face successive defeats, both in assembly and parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2019 respectively, he might have thought it is good for him to give up such big ambition (CM face). If he sticks to his CM aspirations, his political career would definitely take a beating" said political analyst A. Marx.