Pattali Makkal Katchi
Paattali Makkal Katchi (English: Working people’s party, abbreviated in English as PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 as a political outfit for the Vanniyars (OBC), the dominant caste in northern Tamil Nadu.[2][3]
History
PMK was founded by S. Ramadoss, an activist, on 16 July 1989. Ahead of the 2004 elections, PMK joined the Democratic Progressive Alliance, a broad Tamil political front which also included the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Indian National Congress (INC), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian Union Muslim League. PMK was able to obtain a significant share of power both in the regional government in Tamil Nadu and the Central Government due to a significant number of seats they obtained which helped the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA-I ) to form the Government.
Following the 2004 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, an outside supporter of the Karunanidhi Government.[4] 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 the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( AIADMK ) led front and left the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
PMK contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party led NDA[5] and its candidate Anbumani Ramadoss won from Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, where he was one of two non-AIADMK MPs from Tamil Nadu the other being from its ally BJP.
