Chennai

The trend of splinter groups launching new parties became popular after MGR’s exit from DMK, which itself broke ranks with Dravida Kazhagam (DK) over ideological differences. Typically, the phenomenon of splitsville would occur just before election season. Either, a group of rebels walk out of the parent party to form a new outfit or the party sacks its detractors for going public over differences on certain issues. This usually happens during alliance arrangement or seat allocation. 

The upcoming elections have been no different. The first one to break away was the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK). While the main outfit, led by Jawahirullah, aligned with DMK, the splinter group led by Thamimun Ansari, formed a new party, Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi (MJK), and bagged two seats in the AIADMK-led front. 

Close on the heels of this development, DMDK faced opposition from a group led by VC Chandhirakumar, senior party functionary, over its alliance with PWF. The Chandhirakumar group, christened as Makkal DMDK, joined hands with DMK and was allotted three seats in the combine. Similarly, the TMC witnessed voices of dissent. Fortunately, Vasan’s party did not see a split. But its senior leaders crossed over to the parent party Congress. 

A key feature of the splinter groups is the fact that they fade into oblivion after the hustings. A glance at the past will provide evidence to this fact. A case in point is Gandhi Kamaraj Desiya Congress floated by veteran leader Kumari Ananthan, ex-TNCC president, in the 1980s. The senior Congress leader again launched a new party, Thondar Congress, in 2001. Similarly, in the late 1980s, Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy, also a former TNCC president, walked out of the parent party to become the chief of the Congress (Tiwari). This outfit too failed to survive the 1991 election. A major split faced by the Congress was in 1996 when GK Moopanar parted ways after the Delhi Congress top brass decided to align with Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK for the assembly poll. The new party, Tamil Maanila Congress, joined hands with DMK and recorded a landslide victory. However, within a year after the demise of Moopanar, his son GK Vasan wound up TMC to join the parent party. Vasan has now joined DMDK-PWF combine for the May 16 election. Yet another prominent face of the TNCC to carve out a new outfit was Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani in 1988. 

Besides a number of seasonal outfits, a few popular leaders who launched independent parties are RM Veerappan, S Thirunavukkarasar and T Rajendar. Among all these, the MDMK, formed by Vaiko in 1993, managed to survive four elections and has been recognised as a significant force. The party is now in the PWF to face its fifth election. 

The only party to chart its own successful course is ADMK, later renamed AIADMK, founded by late MG Ramachandran, who formed a new party after walking out of the DMK. Though AIADMK witnessed a split, one led by J Jayalalithaa, the then propaganda secretary of the party and the other led by VN Janaki, wife of MGR, for a brief period, the Janaki faction later reunited with the Jayalalithaa’s group, to come under a single AIADMK banner. The party has won six elections so far. In fact, in 1984, MGR won from Andipatti and also led his party to victory without even campaigning in the State as he was away from the country for medical treatment. 

AIADMK is the only party to emerge unscathed in the seasons of splitsville in Tamil Nadu politics.

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