Reunite AIADMK or we will take steps: Sengottaiyan to Edappadi

COIMBATORE: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami should take steps to re-induct those who left the party within 10 days, or else those like him would come together and accomplish the task, disgruntled senior leader KA Sengottaiyan said on Friday.

Issuing the ultimatum at a press conference at Gobichettipalayam in Erode, Sengottaiyan warned that if reconciliation does not happen, the party may not rule Tamil Nadu again. “The general secretary can decide who should be taken back, but those who held key positions in the party should return. A quick decision should be taken without further delays,” he said.

If his concerns are ignored, “those with a similar mindset will come together and accomplish the task”, Sengottaiyan said, adding that he would also boycott Palaniswami’s ongoing campaign.

“After 2016, the AIADMK faced continuous defeats: 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 2021 Assembly polls, then in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and in the local body polls. Had the AIADMK formed an alliance with the BJP, we could have secured 30 Lok Sabha seats. Even former minister SP Velumani expressed these views,” said the senior leader from the Gounder community, to which Palaniswami also belongs.

Following the party’s poor show in the last Lok Sabha polls, “six of us, including Natham R Viswanathan, SP Velumani, P Thangamani, KP Anbalagan, and CVe Shanmugam, met Palaniswami seeking to re-induct those who left the party. But he was not ready to accept our concerns.”

Emphasising the cadre’s desire for a united AIADMK, Sengottaiyan pointed out that even party founder MG Ramachandran and his successor J Jayalalithaa readmitted those who left by persuading them to bury differences and work for the party.

“They are ready to rejoin without placing any conditions or demanding positions. So they should be reunited; otherwise, our party won’t form the next government. The party’s plight is evident in southern districts,” he said, hinting at the Thevar community to which expelled leaders VK Sasikala and O Panneerselvam belong.

Sengottaiyan added that he turned down two opportunities for the top post after Jayalalithaa's demise for the sake of the party’s unity. Later, the then party chief VK Sasikala made Palaniswami the Chief Minister after O Panneerselvam’s ouster from the chair.

The senior leader is upset over being sidelined in the party affairs, and had expressed displeasure over the omission of photos of MGR and Jaya in the invitation and banners at a function to felicitate Palaniswami for implementing the Athikadavu-Avinashi Scheme.