CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK MLA C Ve Shanmugam on Monday made a scathing attack against party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, demanding accountability for successive electoral defeats and alleging a secret post-poll understanding with the DMK.
Addressing reporters here, Shanmugam criticised the party leadership's failure to evaluate the reasons for continuous electoral losses since 2019 and hit out at AIADMK whip 'Agri' S S Krishnamurthy for blaming district secretaries for the setbacks.
"Whenever a party is defeated in an election, the leader takes moral responsibility," he said, adding he was not demanding Palaniswami's resignation but urging an introspective review of the party's decline.
Shanmugam stated that Palaniswami must accept responsibility instead of shifting the blame to grassroots workers and candidates.
He strongly condemned Krishnamurthy's claim that the party's victory in 47 seats in the recently held Assembly election was solely due to Palaniswami's popularity.
Questioning this narrative, the former minister asked whether Palaniswami lacked influence in the 181 constituencies where the AIADMK lost, noting the party's poor performance even in his home district of Salem.
Highlighting the party's reliance on allies, Shanmugam claimed that 34 of the seats won in the northern districts were largely due to the alliance with the PMK.
He noted that the AIADMK was completely wiped out in the southern and delta districts, as well as in the Chennai region, managing to win only two out of 37 seats there.
Hitting back at Krishnamurthy, Shanmugam reminded the media of the former agriculture minister's past, noting he was dismissed from late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's Cabinet and jailed for allegedly abetting the suicide of a subordinate.
He also alleged that a backroom deal was brokered between Palaniswami and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin on the night the Assembly election results were announced.
According to Shanmugam, an agreement was reached where the DMK would offer outside support to make Palaniswami as the chief minister.
The MLA claimed he vehemently opposed this proposition during a meeting convened at the leader's residence.
Both DMK and AIADMK have earlier denied such claims.
Shanmugam also said there were even alternative talks of making VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan the chief minister, with the AIADMK taking the remaining Cabinet portfolios, which he also rejected, asserting the AIADMK was founded on an anti-DMK ideology and cannot compromise.