Chennai: The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has downplayed the number of party cadres resigning and joining the DMK, sources said.
While DMK claims that 2,600 party cadres, including district secretaries and other district office-bearers, have joined the party on Monday, NTK state spokesperson Idumbavanam Karthik denies the claim.
Karthik told IANS: “These are all insignificant developments as far as the larger picture of the party is concerned. We don’t have any issues regarding setbacks in urban local body elections. Cadres join a political party based on ideology and as far as NTK is concerned, our ideology is intact and we have a strong grassroot cadre base.”
He also said that those who have left the party were not active in party politics for the past several months. “If someone is leaving the party based on electoral setbacks, it means he or she lacks an ideological base and there is no point in such people continuing in party.”
The NTK spokesperson said that the party had contested the the 2016 elections and got 1 per cent of the votes. In 2019, the party lost the Lok Sabha elections, but received 4 per cent of the votes polled. The party received 7 per cent votes in 2021 Assembly elections even though it could not win a single seat.
Karthik said that the party was unaffected by the setbacks. “We are working towards capturing power in 2026 state Assembly polls and there is nothing short of this. In between, some people will leave the party while several others will join. This will in no way affect the functioning of the NTK as we are an ideology-driven political party unlike most of the other Dravidian political parties.”
However, DMK leader and MP from Dharmapuri, Senthilkumar said that more than 1,500 cadres of NTK have joined DMK and this included zonal and district leaders of the party, including district secretaries.
DMK leader said that the cadres would have realised that there is no scope for them in the NTK.
Senthilkumar, while speaking to IANS, said: “The NTK leader Seeman prefers his own close people as candidates and there is a resent in the party, and those who are opposed to him and the party ideals have left that party and joined the DMK.”
It may be noted that the senior leaders of NTK, Rajiv Gandhi and Prof Kalyanasundaram left the party before the 2021 Assembly elections and joined the DMK and AIADMK respectively.
However, NTK leadership is confident that the party will get a large number of seats in the 2026 Assembly elections and that a few people leaving the party will never affect its future functioning.
–IANS