Will offer DMK unconditional support for 15% Vanniyar sub-quota, PMK's open bargain

CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday said that if the DMK government implements a 15 per cent internal reservation for the Vanniyar community within the MBC quota, his party will extend unconditional support to the Dravidian major in 2026 assembly polls without seeking any seat (to contest).

"If DMK fails to implement internal reservation, we will go door to door and every street to campaign that Stalin is an enemy of Vanniyars. No respectable Vanniyar will vote for DMK," he threatened while addressing a demonstration at Kancheepuram condemning the State government over the sub-quota demand.

PMK argues that after the Supreme Court order validating the Arundhathiyar sub-quota, it is time to extend the same to Vanniyars.

He said the apex court stated that the internal reservation could be implemented after collecting relevant data. "Internal reservation for Vanniyar is not a caste issue, it is a social justice issue," Anbumani said, claiming that the community lives under backward conditions in slums. "They do low-level jobs like laying roads and working as bricklayers. Internal quota is necessary for them to progress in their studies and jobs," the PMK president said.

Anbumani alleged that the DMK did not want to implement the internal reservation as they feared that the people who study and come up in life won't vote for them. "If a caste-wise census is conducted in the State, DMK will know many harsh truths. That's why the present government is afraid of such an enumeration as people will start demanding for adequate constituencies to contest in the polls according to their population percentage," he said. He pointed out that various states in the country have completed a caste-wise census based on social justice.

Noting that there is an inadequate representation of the Vanniyar community in the top bureaucracy, the PMK leader said that it was the northern districts that kept the DMK alive and the Vanniyar people who voted for the DMK in large numbers and made them win.

Anbumani asked why Duraimurugan was not given the post of Deputy Chief Minister. "Duraimurugan made so many sacrifices in the DMK and went to jail for the party. He was denied the Deputy Chief Minister post because he was born in the Vanniyar community," Anbumani alleged.