Any worker can rise to high positions in AIADMK: Palaniswami

AIADMK’s Edappadi K. Palaniswami said any cadre who worked hard and remained loyal could rise to the highest position in the party. File picture
| Photo Credit: Srinath M.

The AIADMK’s interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday said that any cadre who worked hard and remained loyal to the party leadership could rise to the highest position in the party.

Addressing a public meeting in Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, organised to observe the birth anniversary of late AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, he said many people dreamt that the party would end after her death. “But, the party made a phoenix-like come back. “ He recalled how, from a functionary, he worked his way up in the party.

While the AIADMK leaders worked for the country’s welfare, those in the DMK were interested in their families, he said. “But AIADMK is a democratic party. Any party worker can rise [to the top]. This cannot happen in DMK.”

In the DMK, people from the same family could rise to leadership, Mr. Palaniswami said. “We should put a full stop to dynasty politics,” he said, and questioned why people from a single family should occupy positions in party and government.

“If an ordinary worker [in the AIADMK] worked hard and remained loyal to the leadership, he can come up like me,” he said, and criticising Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of not having struggled enough to come up.

“[Mr. Stalin] he did not face any struggle. His father was a Chief Minister and a party head. He [Mr. Stalin] became an MLA because of that. He became a Mayor, Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and now the Chief Minister,” he said.

He said, in his view, the DMK was not a political party but a corporate company.