Tamil Nadu Sports Minister R Inbatamizhan Tuesday resigned from the AIADMK and joined the DMK in the presence of party chief M Karunanidhi.
In a statement, Inbatamizhan, son of late DMK leader R Tamaraikani, said he was treated like a "slave" and not even allowed to perform the last rites for his father when he died last year.
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"I was asked by AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa whether I want her or my father. I was isolated from my father, mother and brothers by Jayalalithaa. I was rather a slave than a minister under her," he said.
He said he was compelled to run politics in his home town of Srivilliputhur against his father under the instigation of Jayalalithaa. "I was also pressurised by Jayalalithaa to make my father inactive as the chairman of Srivilliputhur municipality. I feel liberated from slavery today. I am happy to have come to the DMK, where my father was," he said.
He Late Tamaraikani was once the strongman of the AIADMK in Virudunagar district, but later fell out with Jayalalithaa. He had alleged that she humiliated him during the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. Tamaraikani unsuccessfully contested as an independent candidate against his son in Srivilliputhur during the 2001 assembly polls. After losing to Inbathamizhan, he joined the DMK. When he died last year, Inbatamizhan did not reach in time to perform his father's last rites.
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At one stage, he had proclaimed that he would not use his father's initials since he said it was a "sin."
