M. Thambi Durai. File | Photo credit: N. Bashkaran
AIADMK MP and former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai on Friday (May 8, 2026) expressed hope that party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami would return to power.
Speaking to reporters outside Mr. Palaniswami’s residence, the AIADMK veteran during the general secretary’s election tour said public sentiment was evident in favor of his party’s return to power. “I hope it can happen,” remarked Mr. Thambi Durai, hastening to add that it was up to Mr. Palaniswami to take the call on the DMK-AIADMK alliance.
He was responding to a question about the possibility of a truce between the two Dravidian majors.
The former vice-president was the second top leader to choose not to dismiss talk of a patch-up between the two parties. On Thursday (May 7), former health minister S Semmalai, after challenging Mr Palaniswami, said his party leader would be “a king and not a king”. He will take a “firm and good decision” on the alliance between his party and the DMK.
Asked further if Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader KA Sengottaiyan was trying to woo a section of newly elected AIADMK legislators, the former minister dismissed it as a matter of speculation and said his party’s legislators were “not naive” to get carried away by any such move. “All are bound by the word of the Secretary General.”
Published – May 8, 2026 12:23 PM IST
