PMK founder Ramadoss asks estranged son Anbumani not to use party name, flag

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss on Thursday (October 16, 2025) advised his estranged son Anbumani Ramadoss to refrain from using the party’s name and flag and said he could float a new party if he wants to accommodate his followers.

Speaking to reporters at his Thailapuram residence near Tindivanam, Mr. Ramadoss said he had put in a lot of hard work and developed the party on his own by visiting over 96,000 villages, and it would be “unethical” and “unjustified” of Mr. Anbumani to use the party’s name and flag.

Reiterating that Mr. Anbumani could use his initials, Mr. Ramadoss said that even if the former floated a new party, it would garner no votes, as people would have no faith in it and perceive it as a “fake organisation.” He said that when he started the party, he did not anticipate that such a situation would emerge in the organisation, then or now.

Mr. Ramadoss said that Mr. Anbumani could float a party and appoint his followers to party posts, but they would not get positions of MLAs or MPs. In India, several parties had faced multiple splits, but they were not developed by a single person on the lines of the PMK. It is better that Mr. Anbumani abstained from using the party name and flag, he emphasised.