Ever since the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam won a massive assembly election last month, the political landscape in Tamil Nadu has been seeing drastic changes. When he dethroned DMK in the Dravidian heartland, many expected to see an implosion in M.K. Stalin's party. While the poll debacle has hurt DMK for sure, TVK's surge has harmed the AIADMK and BJP more.
On Monday, K. Annamalai triggered speculations about quitting the BJP and floating a new movement or a political party. The rumours gained strength when the former BJP president opposed the CBSE's three-language policy for Class 9. Though the BJP offered him a Rajya Sabha berth, he has reportedly turned down the offer.
It should be noted that Annamalai was against BJP's move to ally with the AIADMK and wanted the saffron party to fight the elections on its own. His opposition cost him the post of party's state president, after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami insisted on leadership changes in the BJP state unit.
Irked by the move, Annamalai refused to contest or campaign in the assembly polls. He is likely to announce his exit from the party after meeting BJP national president Nitin Nabin and Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.
While the differences within the BJP state brass became evident only on June 1, the cracks within AIADMK were visible almost immediately after the election results came out. A section of AIADMK legislators wanted the party to back TVK, which was short of simple majority.
During the floor test of Vijay's party in the assembly, about 25 rebel MLAs from AIADMK violated the party diktat and voted in favour of the ruling TVK. Eventually, four of them resigned as MLAs and joined the TVK. They were K Maragatham Kumaravel (Maduranthakam Assembly constituency), S Jayakumar (Perundurai), P Sathyabama (Dharapuram) and Esakki Subaya (Ambasamudram).
Though most of the rebels, including Thondamuthur MLA S.P. Velumani have patched up with the AIADMK leadership and Palaniswami, others like C.Ve. Shanmugam and former minister C. Vijayabaskar are still reportedly on the fence.
Meanwhile, DMK and AIADMK have demanded a CBI probe into allegations of "horse trading" over the resgination of the four rebel MLAs who joined the TVK. AIADMK whip Agri S.S. Krishnamoorthy requested Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar to take action against the rebel MLAs.
