All is not well in the NDA in Tamil Nadu as the turmoil in the AIADMK, heading the alliance in Tamil Nadu, has deepened.
Cracking the whip, AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), on Saturday axed veteran leader and ex-minister KA Sengottaiyan from key party posts a day after he issued an ultimatum to initiate talks for the home coming of expelled leaders.
Considering the 10-day ultimatum as a gauntlet thrown at him, challenging his authority and leadership, EPS relieved Sengottaiyan from the posts of AIADMK Organising Secretary and District Secretary Erode (Rural).
A host of party functionaries in Erode district, who are Sengottaiyan loyalists, have also been removed from their posts, apparently to clip his wings for raising the banner of rebellion within the party. With this the crisis in the AIADMK, has taken a turn for the worse.
Reacting to the development, Sengottaiyan said, “This decision has been taken without offering an opportunity to explain his position. Yet, I am happy that I can now continue the efforts at unification of all those who have gone astray and strengthen the AIADMK.
“I will carry on the task of bringing together those who have been part of the party with like minded leaders, which is the aspiration of the cadre. I have no regrets at being removed from key posts.”
On Friday, Sengottaiyan, a party veteran who remains marginalised, aired his disappointment at the unwillingness of EPS to take the unity initiative and held out a 10-day ultimatum.
“It is up to the general secretary to decide on who all are to be admitted back into the party. If he fails to take steps in this regard so that the homecoming could be completed well ahead of elections, then I will take it upon myself to carry it forward.”
He also disclosed that he and five other former ministers had urged him the need to unite the party in the wake of the drubbing the party received in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Right from the 2019 LS poll and the 2021 Assembly elections, the AIADMK has been on a successive losing streak. At least now, in 2026, the party should be strengthened to take on the ruling DMK,” he had added, batting for the inclusion of former Deputy CM, O Panneerselvam (OPS), and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary and VK Sasikala’s nephew, TTV Dhinakaran.
Describing the stripping of Sengottaiyan as ‘height of dictatorship’, OPS said “People will give a befitting lesson to EPS for this. Sengottaiyan has been a very senior leader and treating him for calling for unity, which is the desire of one and all to reverse the party’s losing streak, is unacceptable.
“Let’s patiently wait for 10 days,” he told the media in his native Theni.
Meanwhile, TTV Dhinakaran set the removal of EPS as the Chief Ministerial face of the NDA and AIADMK seniors taking a favourable decision as a pre-condition for his party’s re-entry into the NDA.
Directing his ire at BJP state president Nainar Nagendran, he told reporters in Madurai that “OPS was forced to quit because of the arrogance of Nainar Nagendran. Unlike his predecessor K Annamalai, he is not able to handle the alliance properly. OPS seeking an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through him had exposed his arrogance.”
Responding to Dhinakaran, Nagendran made it clear that neither the BJP nor he could be held responsible since they had left the NDA.
“Having left the NDA, both OPS and TTV are airing similar complaints indicating that they are hand in glove in this. They are no longer in the NDA and we can’t bear any responsibility for their criticism,” was his response to the media in Coimbatore.
To a question, whether their exit was because even Amit Shah could not ensure their ren-entry into the AIADMK, he said “drawing Shah into this is unnecessary.”