SP Velumani, Natham launch another attack on EPS

CHENNAI/COIMBATORE: After a brief lull, the factional feud that has been simmering within the AIADMK flared up again on Sunday (August 9) after senior leaders, SP Velumani and Natham R Viswanathan, have decidedly crossed the Rubicon by directly attacking general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for the series of electoral reverses that brought the party to the present rudderless situation.

The former leaders, who once stood firmly behind Palaniswami in earlier rounds of internal strife, blamed him for ignoring advice from veterans and even accused him of heresy, albeit indirectly, for advocating alliance with arch enemy, the DMK, to stop the TVK from coming to power.

In a letter to Palaniswami, they sought the re-induction of ousted leaders, VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, and reinstatement of executive and general council members who were removed from the party after May 13.

Listing out Palaniswami’s mistakes, Velumani and Viswanathan said the party suffered because he refused to accept Union Home Minister Amit Shah's suggestion to include Dhinakaran in the alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the AIADMK got drubbed.

Similarly, Palaniswami refused to take alliance parties like DMDK along, resulting in the loss in 2021 Assembly polls, and failed to form an alliance with the TVK ahead of the recent elections, they recalled.

Around the same time that the letter hit the news cycle, Velumani chaired a meeting of his loyalists in Coimbatore, where he questioned the leadership for the abortive bid to join hands with the DMK after the Assembly election.

Significantly, SM Velusamy, whom Palaniswami had appointed as the secretary of the newly created Coimbatore Central (rural) district, was seated beside Velumani at the meeting.

Recalling how they were branded as traitors for voting in favour of the TVK-led grouping during the trust vote, he said, “We voted in favour of TVK only because of our strong opposition to the DMK. If action is taken against us, then what action will be taken against those who wanted an alliance with the DMK?”

Velumani also sought to underline his past support for Palaniswami, saying that he and several other senior leaders, including CVe Shanmugam, Viswanathan, P Thangamani, KC Veeramani, and KP Anbalagan, had stood firmly behind EPS when he was seeking to become the party's general secretary and chief minister.

Recalling the AIADMK's political history under former party supremo and late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, he said the party had traditionally returned to power after spending a term in opposition.

“Until Jayalalithaa was alive, the AIADMK would generally return to power after five years in opposition. Our demand is that a general body meeting be convened to discuss why the party has not been able to return to power after being in opposition,” he said.