By IANS,
Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu) : Two of Tamil Nadu’s four MDMK MPs, L. Ganeshan and Gingee Ramachandran, will join the ruling DMK.
“We will unite with our mother party with at least 100,000 workers shortly. The decision was arrived at after understanding the futility of our former leader Vaiko’s insistence on supporting the state’s biggest loser party AIADMK,” Ganeshan told IANS.
The date, venue and time when they will join the DMK will be worked out in consultation with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi, Ganeshan added.
Ganeshan and Ramachandran had voted in favour of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government during the July confidence vote along with the DMK MPs.
Vaiko had demanded the disqualification of the two members from the Lok Sabha after they violated the party’s three-line whip to vote against the confidence motion in parliament.
Though Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is yet to give his ruling on Vaiko’s demand, it is a foregone conclusion that Ganeshan and Ramachandran will not be disqualified for violating the party whip, MDMK sources said.
The duo claimed to be the real MDMK since parting ways with Vaiko last year but the claim was rejected by the Election Commission.
MDMK was launched in 1993 by Vaiko after he was expelled from the DMK. Since then, Vaiko has oscillated between the DMK and AIADMK in the state, and between the BJP- and Congress-led coalitions in New Delhi.