Chennai: The AIADMK is facing renewed internal churn after its poor performance in the recent Assembly election, with a fresh round of senior functionaries moving to actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
According to the report, AIADMK contested 169 seats and won 47, with four constituencies decided by margins of under 700 votes. The defeat also meant the party lost its status as the principal opposition.
The article says a dissident group emerged within AIADMK after former ministers C.V. Shanmugam and S.P. Velumani alleged that general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami planned to work with the DMK to prevent TVK from forming the government. During a confidence vote on May 13, 25 AIADMK MLAs voted in support of the TVK government, after which Palaniswami removed party posts held by those in the dissident camp.
While some dissidents later returned to Palaniswami after Chief Minister Vijay reportedly declined to include them in the cabinet, four MLAs from Perundurai, Dharapuram, Maduranthakam and Ambasamudram resigned their posts and joined TVK, bringing AIADMK’s strength down to 43, the report said.
At a joining event held at TVK’s Panaiyur office in Chennai, more than 30 AIADMK functionaries—including former minister Pachaimmal, North Chennai South district secretary Balaganga, former MPs Vanaroja and Ilavarasan, former MLAs Arakkonam Ravi and Murugesan, and former Tirunelveli mayor Bhuvaneswari—joined TVK. Former BJP MLA Vijayadharani also joined TVK. The report further claimed that talks are on with more AIADMK leaders, including former minister C. Vijayabaskar and Sankarapuram MLA Rakesh, while Palaniswami has not publicly responded so far.
