Pattali Makkal Katchi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Anbumani Ramadoss |
| General Secretary | Vadivel Ravanan |
| Treasurer | M. Thilagambama |
| Founder | S. Ramadoss |
| Founded | 16 July 1989 (36 years ago) (1989-07-16) |
| Headquarters | Tindivanam,Villupuram District,Chennai - 604001,Tamil Nadu |
| Ideology | Casteism Conservatism Right-wing populism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| ECI Status | Unrecognised Party[1] |
| Alliance |
Former Alliances
|
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 0 / 245 |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 0 / 543 |
| Seats in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | 3 / 234 |
| Election symbol | |
 (Ripe Mango) | |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| pmkofficial | |
ThePattali Makkal Katchi (transl. Proletarian People's Party;abbreviated asPMK) is a political party inTamil Nadu, India. It was founded by Dr.S. Ramadoss in 1989 to provide political representation for theVanniyar caste, a community found throughout northern Tamil Nadu.[2][3] It is a part of the BJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance (NDA).[4]Its symbol is a mango.[5] As of 2025, it is currently led by Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss following a months long dispute that resulted in his father, Dr.S. Ramadoss, forming asplinter faction of the PMK.[6]
S. Ramadoss founded theVanniyar Sangam in 1980, bringing together a coalition ofVanniyar caste organisations. The Vanniyar Sangam is PMK's parent organisation[7][8] that organised the1987 Vanniyar reservation agitation, demandingMost Backward Caste (MBC) status for Vanniyars. At the peak of the protests, the state was paralysed for a week when thousands of trees were cut down, highways were blocked and damaged, and more than 1,400 houses belonging to members of theDalit community were torched.[9] The police shot 21 protestors.[7] Later, in 1989, the DMK government led by then-Chief MinisterM. Karunanidhi granted MBC status to the Vanniyars, with the associatedreservation entitlements in education and employment.[10]
Ramadoss founded the PMK on 16 July 1989,[11] emerging from theVanniyar reservation protests of 1987.[12]
Ahead of the 2004 elections, PMK joined theDemocratic Progressive Alliance, a broad Tamil political coalition which also included the DMK,Indian National Congress (INC),Communist Party of India,Communist Party of India (Marxist) andIndian Union Muslim League. The party was able to obtain a significant share of power both in the regional government in Tamil Nadu and the Central Government due to the number of seats it won which helped theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA-I) form the Government.[citation needed]
Following the2004 Lok Sabha elections, the PMK joined the United Progressive Alliance led by the INC. In June 2008, during the final months of the bitter relationship between the DMK and the PMK, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu severed its ties with the PMK, who were outside supporters of theKarunanidhi Government.[13] However, the DMK did not press for the party's removal from the UPA Government at the centre. On 26 March 2009, PMK declared that, it would join theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led front and left theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Ramadoss and his son, Anbumani Ramdoss, were arrested by the Jayalalithaa government for their inflammatory speeches, the PMK cadres indulged in violence in April 2013 causing property damages estimated worth ₹600 crores.[14] Jayalalithaa likened the party to a “terrorist” organization and claimed they hurledpetrol bombs on moving vehicles and caused damages to 850 vehicles including public buses and threatened to ban the party.[15] Ramadoss and his son were released after 12 days in prison.[16]
PMK contested in the2014 Lok Sabha election in an alliance withBJP-ledNDA and its candidateAnbumani Ramadoss won theDharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, he was one of two non-AIADMK MPs from Tamil Nadu the other being from its ally BJP.[17]
PMK continued its alliance with AIADMK and BJP in the2019 Indian general election in Tamil Nadu and contested 7 seats but the party failed to win any seats.[18]
PMK again contested seats in the2024 Lok Sabha election, fielding 10 candidates across 10 separate constituencies. But the party failed to win any seats.
TheMadras Institute of Developmental Studies (MIDS) and an reported that the PMK and the Hindu Munnani was involved in the2019 Ponparappi violence where Dalit women were sexually abused and Dalit houses were attacked and damaged.[19] An NGO Evidence also blamed PMK in the violence because the Dalit colony voted overwhelmingly for VCK.[20]
In November 2020, Ramadoss called for a protest demanding 20% internal reservation for Vanniyars in the MBC category in education and jobs from 1 December. During the pro-reservation protests, more than 500 PMK cadrespelted stones on a moving train and blocked traffic when they were blocked from entering Chennai.[21][22] A bill to create the 10.5% internal reservation to Vanniyars was passed on February 26, 2021, by the AIADMK government.[23] The move was taken ahead of the April 6 assembly elections to appease the PMK, which had threatened to quit the coalition if their demand was not satisfied.[24] In July 2021, the DMK government issued an order to implement 10.5% quota Bill for Vanniyars.[24]
PMK contested in 23 seats in the AIADMK alliance in the2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election and won five seats by securing 4.04%.[18] In the assembly, PMK voted in favour of anti-CAA and anti-farm-law resolutions, but AIADMK and BJP walked out over the matter.[25] PMK left the AIADMK-led alliance for the 2021 local body polls.[26]
The PMK defied Tamil Nadu's Dravidian political culture by explicitly appealing to its caste identification when asking for support. The party has been linked todirect action and protests that have resulted in violence. Between 2012 and 2013, the party ran a campaign against intercaste marriages.[12]
The leaders of Pattali Makkal Katchi, who are also the national executives of the party, are listed below:[27]
| S.No | Member | Party Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | S. Ramadoss | Founder of PMK |
| 2. | Anbumani Ramadoss | President of PMK |
| 3. | Vadivel Ravanan | General Secretary of PMK |
| 4. | M. Thilagabama | Treasurer of PMK |
| 5. | S. P. Venkateshwaran | MLA, Dharmapuri |
| 6. | S. Sadhasivam | MLA, Mettur |
| 5. | C. Sivakumar | MLA, Mailam |
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term in office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||
| 1 |  | Dheeran (unknown) | 16 July 1989 | 31 December 1997 | 8 years, 168 days |
| 2 |  | G.K. Mani (1952–) | 31 December 1997 | 28 May 2022 | 24 years, 148 days |
| 3 | .jpg) | Anbumani Ramadoss (1968–) | 28 May 2022 | Incumbent | 3 years, 182 days |
===Party Honanary Presidents===
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term in office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||
| 1 | | G.K. Mani (1952–) | 28 May 2022 | Incumbent | 3 years, 182 days |
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Portfolio | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | | Dalit Ezhilmalai (1945–2020) MP forChidambaram [MoS(I/C)] | 20 March 1998 | 14 August 1999 | 1 year, 147 days | Minister of Health and Family Welfare | Vajpayee II | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |
| 2 | | N. T. Shanmugam MP forVellore [MoS(I/C)] | 13 October 1999 | 27 May 2000 | 227 days | Vajpayee III | |||
| 27 May 2000 | 7 February 2001 | 256 days | Ministry of Coal | ||||||
| 1 July 2002 | 15 January 2004 | 1 year, 198 days | Ministry of Food Processing Industries | ||||||
| 3 | .jpg) | A. K. Moorthy (born 1964) MP forChengalpattu | 1 July 2002 | 15 January 2004 | 1 year, 198 days | MoS in Ministry of Railways | |||
| 4 | .jpg) | E. Ponnuswamy (born 1936) MP forChidambaram | 13 October 1999 | 7 February 2001 | 1 year, 117 days | MoS in Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas | |||
| 5 | | Anbumani Ramadoss (born 1968) Rajya Sabha MP forTamil Nadu | 23 May 2004 | 29 March 2009 | 4 years, 310 days | Ministry of Health & Family Welfare | Manmohan I | Manmohan Singh | |
| 6 | .jpg) | R. Velu (born 1940) MP forArakkonam | MoS in Ministry of Railways | ||||||
| Election Year | Election | Votes polled | Won | Change of Seats | Alliance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 10th Assembly | 1,452,982 | 1 / 194 |  1 | None | Lost |
| 1996 | 11th Assembly | 1,042,333 | 4 / 116 | 3 | PMK+ | Lost |
| 2001 | 12th Assembly | 1,557,500 | 20 / 27 | 16 | AIADMK+ | Won |
| 2006 | 13th Assembly | 1,863,749 | 18 / 31 |  2 | DMK + | Won |
| 2011 | 14th Assembly | 1,927,783 | 3 / 30 | 15 | DMK + | Lost |
| 2016 | 15th Assembly | 2,300,775 | 0 / 234 | 3 | None | Lost |
| 2021 | 16th Assembly | 1,756,796 | 5 / 23 | 5 | AIADMK+ | Lost |
| Election Year | Election | Votes polled | Won | Change of Seats | Alliance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 11th Lok Sabha | 552,118 | 0 / 15 | No Change | PMK+ | Lost |
| 1998 | 12th Lok Sabha | 15,48,976 | 4 / 5 | 4 | NDA | Government |
| 1999 | 13th Lok Sabha | 2,236,821 | 5 / 7 | 1 | NDA | Government |
| 2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | 1,927,367 | 5 / 5 | No Change | DPA | Government |
| 2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | 1,944,619 | 0 / 6 | 5 | TF | Lost |
| 2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | 1,804,812 | 1 / 8 | 1 | NDA | Government |
| 2019 | 17th Lok Sabha | 2,297,431[28] | 0 / 7 | 1 | NDA | Government |
| 2024 | 18th Lok Sabha | 18,79,689 | 0 / 10 | No Change | NDA | Government |
DPA - Democratic Progressive Alliance NDA - National Democratic AllianceTF - Third Front PT - PMK-Tiwari Congress Front
| Election Year | Election | Votes polled | Won | Change of Seats | Alliance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2006 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election | N.A. | 2 / 30 | 2 | DPA | Government |
| Election Year | Election | Votes polled | Won | Change of Seats | Alliance | Result | Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 13th Lok Sabha | 140,920 | 0 / 1 | No Change | NDA | Lost | M. Ramadass |
| 2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | 241,653 | 1 / 1 | 1 | DPA | Government | M. Ramadass |
| 2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | 208,619 | 0 / 1 | 1 | TF | Lost | M. Ramadass |
DPA - Democratic Progressive Alliance NDA - National Democratic AllianceTF - Third Front PT - PMK-Tiwari Congress Front
| Year | Election | Member | Constituency | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 12th Lok Sabha | Dalit Ezhilmalai | Chidambaram (SC) | |
| K. Parymohan | Dharmapuri | |||
| M. Durai | Vandavasi | |||
| N.T. Shanmugam | Vellore | |||
| 1999 | 13th Lok Sabha | A.K. Moorthy | Chengalpattu | |
| Mathivanan | Chidambaram (SC) | |||
| P D Elangovan | Dharmapuri | |||
| M. Durai | Vandavasi | Re-elected for 2nd term | ||
| N.T. Shanmugam | Vellore | Re-elected for 2nd term | ||
| 2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | Rangasamy Velu | Arakkonam | |
| A.K. Moorthy | Chengalpattu | Re-elected for 2nd term | ||
| E Ponnuswamy | Chidambaram (SC) | Re-elected for 2nd term | ||
| Senthil Raman | Dharmapuri | |||
| K Dhanaraju | Tindivanam | |||
| M. Ramadass | Puducherry | |||
| 2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | Anbumani Ramadoss | Dharmapuri |
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Position | Term in office | Constituency (House) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
| 1 |  | R. Anbumani (1968–) | Member of Rajya Sabha | 2004 | 2010 | 6 years | Tamil Nadu (Rajya Sabha) |
| 2019 | 2025 | 6 years | |||||