With Panruttiyar's Sanyas, Captain Loses His Chanakya

With DMDK presidium chairman Panruti S Ramachandran announcing his decision to take political sanyas, the party’s founder Vijaykant has lost a guiding star and a veteran well acquainted with the rough and tumble of Dravidian politics spanning over five decades. Indeed, there is no one in the DMDK measuring up to the stature of Ramachandran to steer the party which is at the crossroads in the current political situation.

A close associate of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, he was the ‘Chanakya’ of the DMDK and guided the party since its inception. Known for his composure even during times of difficulties, Ramachandran, called as ‘Panruttiyar’, was never short of ready wits in the State Assembly. Had the DMDK MLAs and its leadership given a free hand to Ramachandran, he could have made a turnaround in the party’s performance in the House.  He came under Anna’s orbit in 1956, when he was secretary of the DMK association at the Annamalai University. Born in 1937 at Puliyur in the erstwhile South Arcot district, Ramachandran received BE (Hons) degree from Annamalai University. In 1966, he resigned the job he held at the State Electricity Board to become an active politician.

In 1967, he was elected from Panruti constituency on the DMK ticket. Later, he was the Minister for State Transport and Local Administration in the Karunanidhi cabinet. Then, due to difference of opinion with Karunanidhi, he joined MGR’s AIADMK and served as the minister for electricity in MGR’s cabinet.

A confidant of MGR, he was seen as his master’s Man Friday in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. MGR had sent to him to the United Nations to speak about the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils and on his return to Chennai, MGR gave a rousing reception. He was a witness to the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement on July 29, 1987. Interestingly, DMK president M Karunanidhi had charged him with thwarting the merger of DMK and AIADMK a few decades ago. Such was the importance and hold in the AIADMK that Ramachandran had during the MGR regime.  A few years after MGR’s demise in 1987, Ramachandran joined the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the PMK opened its account in the Assembly with Ramachandran’s election in 1991. Within a year, due to differences with Ramadoss, he left the PMK and formed an apolitical forum called Makkal Nala Urimai Kazhagam in 1992.

After the passage of few more years, in 2006, he joined as the presidium chairman of  DMDK founded by actor Vijaykant. In 2011, he was elected from Alandur constituency.