AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami at a press meet at the party office in Salem, Tamil Nadu on Saturday, November 1, 2025 | Photo credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday (November 1, 2025) claimed that after expelling AIADMK leader KA Sengottaiyan, he never spoke against the DMK in the State Assembly or anywhere else.
Mr. Palaniswami, who attended a meeting with AIADMK party functionaries in Salem, told reporters that for the last six months, Mr. Sengottaiyan’s activities were in an anti-party spirit.
He claimed that during the AIADMK regime, 85% of the work on the Athikadavu-Avinashi scheme – a project that diverts excess water from the Bhavani River to recharge water bodies across Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore – was completed, but after the DMK came to power, the work continued at a slow pace and was finally completed after three years.
Invitation line
“The felicitation function for me was done by farmers’ associations. Farmers from different political parties were involved. But Mr. Sengottaiyan said at the time that there were no photographs of former chief ministers Jayalalithaa and MG Ramachandran in the invitation to the event and using that as an excuse, he did not attend the event. This is despite the fact that nearly 30% of Goustity Lake benefits from the Consustitay scheme,” said Mr. Palaniswami.
He further alleged that Mr. Sengottaiyan had given free bicycles to school children in his constituency at a function in which former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Chief Minister MK Stalin were present. Even then, Mr. Palaniswami claimed, Mr. Sengottaiyan “started the work of DMK’s B-team”.
Mr. Palaniswami pointed out that the AIADMK cadre celebrated the expulsion of Mr. Sengottaiyan in his own constituency and said that if Mr. Sengottaiyan had worked for the people and the party, there would have been no celebration regarding his expulsion.
Reintegration of expelled leaders
Regarding Mr. Sengottaiyan’s demand to reinstate expelled AIADMK leaders, including O. Panneerselvam, back into the party, Mr. Palaniswami said that Mr. Panneerselvam was expelled with the consent of 2,500 members of the general council. But since Mr Sengottaiyan has now allied himself with the expelled AIADMK leaders, the party has decided to expel him too.
Coming back to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s government, Mr. Palaniswami noted that she too removed him as a minister and district secretary. “After I became Chief Minister in 2017, Mr. Sengottaiyan was inducted into the Cabinet and appointed as District Secretary. He never opposes DMK in the legislature or in public meetings. Last year, he met Mr. Stalin for 20 minutes at the Secretariat,” Palaniswami added.
Showing video clips of AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran’s interview in which he said he spoke to Mr. Sengottaiyan, Mr. Palaniswami said Mr. Dhinakaran was expelled for anti-party activities of Jayalalithaa and did not set foot in Chennai for 10 years when she was alive. After her demise, Ms. Sasikala handed over the party seat to Mr. Dhinakaran without inducting him into the party. “We worked for the party and followed Jayalalithaa’s orders. Because I was loyal to the party, I became the party’s general secretary,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami alleged that “these people” (referring to Mr. Panneerselvam, Mr. Dhinakaran and Mr. Sengottaiyan) had come together to “work for the DMK as its B-team for the 2026 assembly elections”. Mr. Dhinakaran tried to topple the AIADMK government through 18 MLAs, Mr. Palaniswami added.
On Mr. Sengottaiyan’s allegation that the DMK did not take action in the Kodanad robbery-cum-murder case — the 2017 break-in at Jayalalithaa’s bungalow during which a watchman was murdered — Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK had taken action in accordance with the law.
Regarding Mr. Sengottaiyan’s claim that Mr. Palaniswami was the “interim” general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami said that he had been recognized by the courts, the Election Commission and the media. .
District secretaries meet
In another development, the AIADMK on Saturday announced that the secretaries of all its district units will meet on Wednesday (November 5, 2025) at 10:30 am at its headquarters in Chennai.
Published – 01 Nov 2025 15:54 IST
