Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani (1988-1989) was a short-lived political party found by veteran Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan in the year 1988. Sivaji Ganesan had a long running relation with many political parties, with his first movie itself being a propaganda movie of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The party was born after a split in the Tamil Nadu faction of the Indian National Congress. The split itself was after another party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam broke into two fragments one led by V. N. Janaki Ramachandran and other by J. Jayalalithaa. Ganesan and his supporters left the Congress on differences in opinion on which fragment of AIADMK to ally with in 1989 state elections. Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani backed V. N. Janaki Ramachandran's fragment of the party and lost in all seats it competed for. Ganesan eventually regretted his decision to float his own party and merged the party with Janata Dal. Sivaji Ganesan Sivaji Ganesan was one of the foremost stars of Tamil film industry. Born as V. C. Ganesan, he was christened Sivaji by Periyar E. V. Ramasami, who was then leading the Dravidar Kazhagam and the Self-respect movement, in the 1940s. He debuted in the Tamil movie Parasakthi in 1952, a movie which heavily contained elements of Dravidian politics. Although Ganesan was a founder member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam he found that atheistic outlook of the party to cost him his movie fame. He was also frustrated with importance given to M. G. Ramachandran, another movie star, in the party. But yet he stayed on in the party until his visit to Tirumala Venkateswara Temple became a center of controversy within the DMK. Responding to the controversy Ganesan called the DMK "a glamour party" and moved to Tamil National Party. The Tamil National Party was itself formed by former members of DMK such as E. V. K. Sampath and Kannadasan. Later Ganesan joined the Indian National Congress when Tamil National Party was merged with it. Birth of Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani M. G. Ramachandran had been heading the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) as its founder after his feud with M. Karunanidhi in 1972. He had been the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 1977 until his death in 1987. Soon after his death the party broke into two, one headed by his wife V. N. Janaki Ramachandran and other by another Tamil movie star J.