Citing DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi as his inspiration, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr. S. Ramadoss on Thursday said he will lead the party the rest of his life. “I am not after the loaves and fishes of office,” Ramadoss said while speaking to reporters from his Thailapuram residence, near Tindivanam.

Stating that he was following the footsteps of Karunanidhi, senior Ramadoss was all praise for chief minister M.K. Stalin, saying that the latter did not even raise a voice of protest against his father. “At this age my conscience at this stage dictates me to be president of the party. He (Anbumani) was the president for three years. Now if he accepts to be working president the stalemate over certain issues in the party will come to an end,” Ramadoss reiterated. He also said that he was never after the material benefits or rewards of holding office. “If I wanted power, I could have got any post in the Union cabinet. I have shared close relationships with four to five Prime Ministers, including incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Ramadoss explained.

The feud between the father-son duo has been extending for over a month, with father appointing few seniors for the top posts in the party and the son removing them from the post. The two have been at loggerheads with the father giving a party position to one his grandsons and Anbumani’s nephew Mukundan Parasuraman. Anbumani expressed his opposition to certain decisions taken by his father, including his removal as party president and demoted as the working president . Since then Ramadoss has been making public certain decisions taken by him and how his son and daughter-in-law Sowmya have ensured that the party entered into an electoral alliance with the BJP.