Former Tamil Nadu Forest Minister and senior DMK leader K Ponmudy, who was sacked from his party position over misogynistic remarks in April this year, was reinstated as one of the party's Deputy General Secretaries on Tuesday.
Ponmudy had courted a major controversy over his Shaivite-Vaishnavite remarks made in the context of a sex worker, drawing widespread criticism. In a video of his speech - which NDTV could not verify independently - he was heard sharing a vulgar conversation, labelled misogynistic and demeaning to women, between a man and a sex worker. He prefaced it with a disclaimer asking women present not to "mistake him."
DMK MP Kanimozhi had publicly condemned Ponmudy's speech, demanding he be held accountable for "unacceptable" and "disgusting" remarks.
The party also appointed Minister MP Saminathan to the same post, expanding its number of Deputy General Secretaries to seven.
Community Outreach Among Key Reasons
Party sources said two factors prompted the leadership to bring back Ponmudy.
"Despite his demotion, he continued to stay active, meeting cadres and boosting morale. This move is also seen as outreach to the Udayar community, to which the veteran leader belongs, ahead of the elections," a senior source said.
Gounder Representation Strengthened
Information & Publicity Minister MP Saminathan's elevation is seen as an attempt to strengthen the party's presence in western Tamil Nadu, the stronghold of AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami. Saminathan, who belongs to the Gounder community, a landowning agrarian community, was appointed to a leadership role that has been vacant since the resignation of senior DMK leader and former Union Minister Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan in 2022.
Though the DMK did not perform strongly in this region during the 2021 Assembly elections, it swept all Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general election.
With the latest appointments, the DMK now has seven Deputy General Secretaries. The others are: MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, former Union Minister A Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, Anthiyur P Selvaraj, and Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy.
