Fresh round of internal dissent haunts AIADMK

CHENNAI: A fresh round of internal dissent has surfaced in the AIADMK, with nine senior functionaries, including eight MLAs led by former Ministers SP Velumani and Natham R Viswanathan, declining to accept the organisational posts recently assigned to them by the party's general secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami.

In a letter addressed to Palaniswami, the leaders said they were unable to accept the responsibilities entrusted to them, citing differences over the party's post-election political course and the alleged non-implementation of assurances made during reconciliation talks.

According to the letter, the differences emerged after the AIADMK's defeat in the 2026 Assembly election, when the leadership explored the possibility of forming a coalition government with the DMK. The signatories contended that the move had caused dissatisfaction among party cadres and argued that the party should instead have assumed the role of the Opposition.

The differences later widened when 25 AIADMK MLAs, including SP Velumani and CVe Shanmugam, urged the party leadership to extend support to the ruling TVK government. The MLAs subsequently backed the no-confidence motion in the Assembly in support of the government, following which Palaniswami removed them from their organisational positions.

Although 21 of the legislators later reconciled with the leadership, they claimed that their original party posts were not restored. The dissatisfaction, they said, intensified after former Ministers C Vijayabaskar and MR Vijayabaskar resigned as MLAs, quit the AIADMK and announced their decision to join the TVK.

On June 25, Palaniswami announced a fresh round of organisational appointments, naming SP Velumani and Natham R Viswanathan as deputy general secretaries and appointing several former ministers as organising secretaries.

However, the leaders said the appointments fell short of the understanding reached during reconciliation, as they had not been reinstated to their earlier positions as district secretaries. They also expressed disappointment that CVe Shanmugam had not been assigned any organisational responsibility despite, according to them, his role in ensuring Palaniswami's continuation as the party's general secretary after the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The leaders further alleged that the understanding had included the withdrawal of disqualification petitions against them and restoration of their earlier organisational posts, but these assurances had not been fulfilled.

Referring to previous reunification exercises in the AIADMK following the death of MG Ramachandran and the return of O Panneerselvam's faction, they noted that leaders had then been restored to their original positions. They also pointed out that the AIADMK had suffered electoral defeats in every election held since Palaniswami assumed office as general secretary.

The signatories to the letter, including KP Anbalagan, P Thangamani, Arunmozhithevan, P Balakrishna Reddy, KC Veeramani, Krishnamurali and SM Kumar, said they would not accept the posts offered to them and would continue to function only as ordinary party workers.