Sarath Kumar

Chennai, April 11: Popular actor and MP Sarath Kumar has resigned from the DMK, in a jolt to the party less than a month before Tamil Nadu goes to polls on May 8.

In a letter to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi, Sarath said he wanted to be relieved of the party’s primary membership as he could no longer bear the “insults and humiliation” heaped on him by a small coterie of Karunanidhi’s family members who were “dominating” party affairs.

Action hero in numerous Tamil and Telugu films, Sarath was elected on a DMK ticket to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu in July 2001 and has campaigned for the party since 1997.

Amid speculation that Sarath could now gravitate towards the ADMK led by Jayalalithaa, the actor said though he had worked “very hard” for the DMK all these years, he has been “ignored”.

“Even my personal appeal to you to sort out the misunderstanding within the party was of no avail,” Sarath said in his letter to Karun-anidhi.

Sarath’s move might help consolidate the Nadar community votes in favour of the ADMK in the south.

His resignation adds to the high drama being played out in both the DMK and the ADMK.

While Ashokahn, a close associate of DMK’s youth wing leader M.K. Stalin and a sitting MLA from Tiruvarur, had recently shocked party circles by joining Jayalalithaa’s party, the DMK suffered another setback three days ago when a well-known Tamil poet and a key functionary in its literary wing, Nirmala Suresh, joined the ADMK.

Nonetheless, the DMK found some solace on Sunday when former Speaker and once key leader in the ADMK, Sedapatti Muthiah, switched over to Karunanidhi’s team. This was after a popular Tamil film actor-director, K. Bhagyaraj, also joined hands with the DMK.