Fueling speculation of a split: Sidelined ex-AIADMK min to hold show of strength

Even as the NDA in Tamil Nadu is rocked by desertion in its ranks, the principal constituent of the alliance, the AIADMK, is in the throes of yet another split with former AIADMK minister and party strongman K A Sengottaiyan, holding a show of strength in Erode on Friday following marginalization in the party, fueling speculation of his parting of ways.

“I will open up my mind with my supporters at the Friday meeting convened at the party office in Erode. At the press conference, I will reflect the opinion of the party cadre and also share my views,” the legislator from Gobichettipalayam had said, sending a strong message to party general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).

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Shortly after this, former party MP, Sathyabama called on him and pledged her support besides announcing that she would attend the meeting.

After the party’s rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he was among the six AIADMK seniors who personally urged EPS to take the initiative to unit all factions of the party, including former Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS), heading the AIADMK Workers Retrieval Committee, and TTV Dhinakaran, running the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), as well as Jayalalithaa’s confidant, V K Sasikala.

Since EPS remains firm in shutting the doors on them, OPS and Dhinakaran have quit the NDA, after waiting in vain.

He became a party member when MG Ramachandran launched the AIADMK in 1972 and remained a trusted lieutenant of late Jayalalithaa as her campaign manager during all the elections. Briefly out of favour with Jayalalithaa, he was rehabilitated by Sasikala after the former Chief Minister’s demise.

Of late, he was sulking after being sidelined by EPS. Both he and EPS hail from the dominant OBC Goundar community, influential in Western Tamil Nadu. “Sengottaiyan is concerned about EPS leading the party to nowhere. The party had lost successive elections and the cadre were dismayed. To retrieve its lost glory, all the factions of the AIADMK should be brought under one banner,” say his supporters in Erode.

They also pointed out how a senior leader like Sengottaiyan is being slighted by EPS by appointing functionaries in Erode district.

For his part, Sengottaiyan attempted at ploughing a lonely furrow and had met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital ahead when EPS was reiterating that the party would not have any tie-up with the BJP. Then, he was seen as a trojan horse of the BJP. Now, with the AIADMK back in the NDA, his marginalisation continues. According to observers, whether he will throw the gauntlet at EPS remains to be seen.