PMK quits NDA, ministers to resign today

Days after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) walked out of the national Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition, its Tamil Nadu constituent, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) also quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, party founder Dr S Ramadoss announced in Chennai.

Ramadoss also said the two ministers of the party in the Union government would be pulled out. The decision came after an hour-long political affairs committee meeting of the party in Chennai.

The PMK was the third NDA partner from Tamil Nadu to quit the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition at the Centre, after the DMK and the MDMK left the alliance a few days ago.

Just yesterday DMK chief M Karuna-nidhi had expressed the hope that PMK would also come into the fold of "secular progressive" front led by it, even as the BJP had said that it was keen to see that PMK remained within the NDA fold.

The two ministers of state""NT Shanmugham and AK Murthy""would submit their resignations to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi either tomorrow or the day after, Ramadoss said.

He said the people of Tamil Nadu "are preparing to teach a lesson to the ruling AIADMK in the state and PMK does not want to go against the will of the people". PMK has four MPs in the BJP-led coalition at the centre.

The PMK is made up largely of the Vanniyars""a politically conscious Dalit sub-caste largely hailing from the Vellore, Cuddalore, Tiruchirappalli, Salem and Tanjavur districts of Tamil Nadu.

These are areas where the upper castes have huge landholdings and landless poor live in grinding poverty. Vanniyars are called Padayachis, Gounders and Nayakars and by some other names in these districts.

Ramdoss, a doctor who banded together the Vanniars in a Vanniar Sangham, later turned the outfit into a political party that contested assembly elections in 1996.

Although the PMK is part of the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu, it has been critical of both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, though Jayalalithaa's frequent pro-Brahmin and pro-Hindu statements and actions have irked the outfit in recent times.

The PMK's departure from the NDA will bring down at least four seats for the alliance in the Lok Sabha though it could affect other seats as well.