Inept Captain cant keep his flock together

CHENNAI:  If one is to go by the history of the seven-year-old Desiya Murppoku Dravida Kazhagam, it appears that the party is failing to retain its successful local body representatives.The principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu has lost one of its two Municipal Chairpersons in the state after R Arunkumar, Chairman of Gudalur Muncipality and DMDK Theni district secretary, defected to the AIADMK on Tuesday. Following his exit, the ninth ward councillor of Gudalur town and Theni district representative of the Captain’s party also joined the ruling party.Interestingly, a similar defection took place in 2006, albeit in the neighbouring Puducherry. The DMDK surprised the entire Union Territory by winning in Karaikal, a stronghold of the DMK and the Congress. DMDK’s Prabhavathi secured 14,845 votes to defeat nearest rival U Bhuvaneswari (DMK) by 3,010 votes— a substantial number given the political equations and population in the tiny enclave.However, Prabhavathi stunned her party by changing allegiance to the DMK, then the second largest party in the UT, supporting the Congress minority Government from outside.Now, it is the turn of Arunkumar of Gudalur. Asked about the reasons for moving to the ruling party, Arunkumar charged that his former party (DMDK) “was not constructive”.Pointing out that the police in Tamil Nadu were discharging their duties without any political interference after AIADMK came to power, he added, “This inspired me to voluntarily join the ruling party.”With the DMDK losing the Gudalur Municipality, the focus has shifted to the Paladam Municipality, where a DMDK candidate emerged victorious in the recent local sabha elections.When contacted, Keerthi G Subramanian, Tiruppur South district secretary of the DMDK under whose limits Paladam falls, asserted  that the true followers of Vijaykanth would continue to be loyal to the Captain. “Since the morning, several people asked me about the fate of the lone DMDK Municipal Chairman. I am sure that none of us will cross over to other parties, as we are from the hardcore Captain’s fan club,” he stressed.