Prominent dissident MLAs skipped AIADMK election campaign events

SP Velumani and C.Ve. Shanmugam. File

Prominent dissident AIADMK MLAs SP Velumani, C.Ve. Shanmugam and Natham R. Viswanathan were left out of the party’s election campaign programs in Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies.

Thirteen MLAs, including party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, are on the list of star fighters. The purpose of providing the list to the electoral authorities is to ensure that the travel costs of campaign participants are not taken into account when calculating candidates’ election expenses.

Former Electricity Minister P. Thangamani, a key figure in the dissident camp, was also expelled, along with his colleagues KP Anbalagan, P. Balakrishna Reddy and KC Veeramani. However, R. Kamaraj, who represents Nannilam in the Assembly, and G. Hari, who represents Thiruttani, are back in the good books of the party leadership, though they were in the rebel camp at one point.

Mr Thangamani took part in a protest in Salem a month ago and clashed with his fellow rebels. It was held as part of the party’s nationwide demonstrations for issues concerning farmers. The former minister, who lost the Assembly elections this year in his traditional seat of Kumarapalayam, even told the agitators that Mr. Palaniswami would soon become the Chief Minister. Mr. Viswanathan, Mr. Velumani and Mr. Anbalagan skipped the agitation despite being appointed as protest leaders at various places. However, Mr. Reddy and Mr. Veeramani attended.

The friction in the party started four months ago after 25 MLAs voted in favor of the TVK-led government during a confidence motion in the assembly. This prompted Mr. Palaniswami to sack 26 district secretaries, many of whom are now in the dissident camp. Several others joined TVK. This churning process in the party actually necessitated the by-election as TVK nominees Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama were originally in the AIADMK. After supporting the TVK government in the assembly, they joined the ruling party. After removing several dissidents from the posts of district secretaries, Mr. Palaniswami offered them alternative positions – deputy general secretary to Mr. Velumani and Mr. Viswanathan and organization secretary to others. But most of the dissidents rejected the offer.

Among those who have made the list are Deputy General Secretary KP Munusamy, Dindigul Treasurer C. Sreenivasan, Propaganda Secretary M. Thambi Durai and Nagapattinam District Secretary OS Manian.

Published – 18 Sep 2026 17:33 IST