DMDK, PMK legislators call on Jayalalithaa; AIADMK sources say MLAs are switching loyalties

CHENNAI: Arun Subramanian, a DMDK legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, and PMK MLA Kalai Arasu called on AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa at her office on Thursday, raising speculation that they were switching sides.
While both MLAs claimed that they visited the chief minister to seek her assistance for welfare measures in their respective constituencies and to extend their belated birthday wishes to her, AIADMK sources said the legislators were switching loyalties.They called on the chief minister separately.
If what the AIADMK sources said is correct, Subramanian will be the eighth MLA to leave the DMDK, giving a big blow to party chief Vijayakanth at a time when he is negotiating with the BJP for an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Arasu will be the first PMK legislator to switch sides if his visit meant more than just a ‘courtesy call,’ as he claimed. The PMK has three representatives in the state assembly.
Subramanian was in news in 2012 when he was arrested on land-grabbing charges.