Shot in arm for Vellore AIADMK as Appu ropes in DMK functionaries

VELLORE: The Vellore urban district AIADMK received a shot in the arm when a group of sitting functionaries of its arch-rival DMK joined the party in the presence of party General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, thanks to the efforts of district Secretary SRK Appu.

Though cadre from Dinakaran’s AMMK and Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiyam numbering around 80 persons also joined the AIADMK simultaneously, the credit goes to Appu for poaching DMK functionaries, sources said.

When asked why the DMK functionaries switched sides, Appu told DT Next, “there was resentment and heartburn among DMK cadre that those who joined the party recently were given prominence and priority while long serving hands were left in the lurch. Also, the perks of office did not percolate down to the cadre level.”

Appu revealed evidence of such possible change earlier when an AIADMK councillor Saravanan in the Vellore corporation council garnered 11 votes in the contest to fill up planning committee posts some days ago. Though the AIADMK has only 6 members in the council, Saravanan received 11 votes. While the lone BJP member was the only AIADMK ally, DMK functionaries, especially Vellore MLA and urban secretary P Karthikeyan, were furious when it was revealed that four of their councillors had voted for the AIADMK candidate.

Reacting to this, Appu said that five DMK councillors absented themselves on voting day proving that all was not well in the Vellore DMK as otherwise they would have obeyed the party diktat and been present for the polling.

Making it clear that he had not provided any inducement, Appu said, “the move clearly reveals that they place more emphasis on the leadership of EPS and not Stalin. We anticipate some more DMK councillors to come into the AIADMK fold.”

Though discontent in the DMK was kept under wraps till now, party men, especially councillors, have now found a way to get back at their top brass locally through cross voting, sources said.