CHENNAI: None of the 25 AIADMK MLAs from the CVe Shanmugam faction was inducted into Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's cabinet during the expansion on Thursday, a major setback that has left the group's political future uncertain.
The exclusion came despite the faction's crucial support for the TVK government during a recent trust vote. A day before the confidence motion, CM Vijay personally met leaders from the Shanmugam and SP Velumani camps to seek their backing, raising expectations within the faction that they would be rewarded with ministerial berths.
However, parties currently supporting the TVK government—including the VCK and Left parties—warned they would reconsider their support if leaders from parties that had aligned with the BJP alliance during the elections were inducted into the ministry.
In the recently concluded assembly elections, no party secured a clear majority to form the government, though TVK emerged as the single largest party. The AIADMK won 47 seats, but former ministers Shanmugam and Velumani had insisted that AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami extend support to TVK and seek cabinet positions. When Palaniswami rejected the proposal, 25 MLAs from the Shanmugam faction voted in favour of the TVK government during the trust vote.
Now, the development has created confusion and uncertainty among MLAs, district secretaries, and general council members who had backed the faction's decision to support the TVK government. According to AIADMK sources, some MLAs and party functionaries aligned with the faction are preparing to return to Palaniswami's camp.
Amid these developments, former ministers, including Agri SS Krishnamoorthy, OS Manian, and KP Munusamy, met Palaniswami at his Greenways residence to discuss the political situation following the Shanmugam faction's exclusion.
Earlier in the day, leaders from the Shanmugam camp held consultations regarding their next course of action. Sources from the faction said they had decided to submit signatures collected from over 1,000 general council members to Palaniswami, demanding that the party's general council meeting be convened. The faction is also planning legal steps seeking recognition of its group in the Assembly from the Speaker.
Meanwhile, the Palaniswami camp is said to be making efforts to bring members of the Shanmugam faction back into its fold. With tensions continuing within the AIADMK, further developments could unfold in the coming days.