Erode MP and one of the founding leaders of the MDMK, A. Ganesamoorthy, died on Thursday after battling for life at a private hospital since Sunday. He was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition after allegedly attempting to end his life.
Born on June 10, 1947, Ganesamoorthy was among the DMK district secretaries who had walked out of the party and joined hands with Vaiko to float the MDMK in 1994. He was an MLA of the DMK during 1989-91, and was elected from the Palani Lok Sabha constituency in 1998 and Erode constituency in the 2009 and 2019 general elections.
Mr. Vaiko, in his condolence message, recalled the days he worked with Ganesamoorthy when they were in the DMK’s student wing. Ganesamoorthy was a student of Theagaraya College in Chennai. He also participated in the anti-Hindi agitation in 1965. He completed his B.A. in 1969 and became the DMK’s student wing co-organiser, and the party’s district secretary in 1984.
He was the Erode district secretary of the MDMK, and later its treasurer. He was arrested, along with Mr. Vaiko, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA) during the Jayalalithaa government in 2002 and lodged in jail for 19 months.
Though most of the district secretaries who left the DMK to join the MDMK went back to their parent organisation, Ganesamoorthy stayed with Mr. Vaiko.
Sources claimed that he was upset as he was not considered for renomination in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The MDMK was allotted the Tiruchi seat, in which Mr. Vaiko’s son and MDMK’s principal secretary, Durai Vaiko, has been fielded.
Denying this charge, Mr Vaiko said, “If you ask his son, daughter or party functionaries, you will know the truth. Doctors were confident of his survival. Since his blood pressure went down, he was given sedation. But the outcome has become different. I am in tears as I have lost a lieutenant from the Kongu belt.”
His mortal remains were cremated at his ancestral village at Kumaravalasu in Avalpoondurai town panchayat on Thursday.
Besides Mr. Vaiko, Ministers S. Muthusamy, M.P. Saminathan, and N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj; MPs K. Kanimozhi, K. Subbarayan, and S. Jothimani; MLAs E.V.K.S. Elangovan and E.R. Eswaran; Durai Vaiko; AIADMK’s former MLAs; functionaries cutting across party lines, farmers and traders, among others, paid homage to Ganesamoorthy at his farm house.
Last rites
Ganesamoorthy’s son, Kabilan, performed the final rites. Shops in Avalpoondurai and surrounding villages were closed from afternoon.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai, and BJP State president K. Annamalai were among those who extended their condolences.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s Suicide Prevention Helpline 044-24640050).
