Seventeen AIADMK MLAs have met with the Pro-tem Speaker, Speaker Karuppaiah, and submitted a letter supporting party General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami. In other words, only a minority of the party’s MLAs have submitted a letter stating that Edappadi Palaniswami will be the AIADMK Legislative Council Chairman.
C. V. Shanmugam, S. P. Velumani, and C. Vijayabaskar are all among the majority group that has abandoned Palaniswami's leadership, reports said. Meanwhile, some reports suggested that the faction that is not with EPS is willing to merge with Chief Minister Vijay's TVK. The 30 MLAs may declare S. P. Velumani as the AIADMK Legislative Party leader, Dinakaran said in a report.
The AIADMK, which led the NDA alliance, finished third behind C. Joseph Vijay's TVK and M. K. Stalin's DMK in the recently held Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. It had contested 169 constituencies—contesting most of the safe seats and leaving smaller allies to take on DMK heavyweights—but could win only 47 seats as the debutant TVK clinched power.
Questions were raised about Palaniswami's continuation as the AIADMK General Secretary after yet another election humiliation. The fact that the AIADMK is not even the major opposition party in the Assembly added salt to the wound of the humiliating defeat. Its archrival DMK managed to win 59 seats although they finished a distant second behind the winners.
All is not well in AIADMK?
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the first day of the Tamil Nadu Assembly session, the Ambasamudram legislator Esakki Subaya addressed speculations regarding dissatisfaction among party ranks.
ALSO READ:
- Is Palaniswami losing his grip? AIADMK faces fresh leadership struggle
- Tamil Nadu witnesses the dawn of a new administration as Vijay takes charge
- Why ‘Vande Mataram' before 'Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu'? CPI grills CM Vijay’s TVK after oath ceremony
- S Keerthana: The rise of Sivakasi’s first woman minister
"Everything is going well within the party. No one can break the party," the former minister said.
Subaya maintained that the party is functioning smoothly and denied rumours of widespread discontent. "Everything is going well within the party. There is no such thing as dissatisfaction," he stated.
When questioned about potential changes to the party leadership, the MLA brushed aside the suggestions, noting that such discussions were merely debates and not reflective of immediate reality. Categorically denying attempts to weaken the organisation, Subaya remarked that no one has the power to "break" the party. He termed reports of a split as "false news".
