Left in the lurch, AIADMK rebels, rattled by desertions in its ranks, blink first and return home

For the AIADMK rebels, it is a homecoming from Trishanku swarg! Rattled by defections from their ranks to the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which left them in the lurch with nowhere to go, the 17 dissidents have patched up and are once again in the parent fold on Wednesday.

Bringing the curtains down on the split, the rebels blinked first, since their expectation of getting into the Vijay ministry or securing some crumbs of office had gone awry as the TVK was jittery accommodating them. This was despite their voting in favour of the government in the trust vote on May 13, against the party whip. And, they landed neither here nor there.

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AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) readmitted them just two days before the deadline for condonation in the disqualification proceedings before the Speaker. The dissidents, who were stripped of their party posts and facing eventual disqualification, had no option. And, their rebellion proved to be a storm in a teacup.

Talks for the reunion had been taking place ever since three rebel legislators resigned their posts and joined the TVK on Monday, with five others returning to the parent fold. With one more rebel MLA quitting and switching to the TVK, the strength of the dissidents got reduced from 25 to 17. For the AIADMK, which won 47 seats in the assembly election, the defection of four of its MLAs to the TVK after resigning their posts had dealt a severe blow to the party.

A united delegation of the AIADMK, led by Agri SS Krishnamurthy and comprising the dissident leaders, SP Velumani and C Vijayabhaskar, met the speaker and submitted separate letters, seeking to withdraw the disqualification petitions filed by each group against the other.

“There was no split, but only a difference of opinion. The AIADMK has become united. Electoral defeats and reverses are common. We have resolved the differences and submitted letters to the Speaker seeking to withdraw the disqualification petitions,” SP Velumani told the media after meeting Speaker JCD Prabhakar. To a question on the conspicuous absence of C Ve Shanmugam, a pivot behind the rebels, Velumani said, “He is very much with us.”

“General Secretary (EPS) has assured to actively consider the demand for convening the party Executive Committee and the General Council,” he added.

“We are one family, all issues have been resolved,” senior AIADMK leader KC Veeramani told the media, after meeting the dissidents, which paved the way for the latter to present themselves at the residence of EPS, who had the last laugh.