Udhayanidhi Stalin mocks AIADMK rift, asks Palaniswami to fix his own party

Udhayanidhi Stalin mocked AIADMK's internal rift, saying K A Sengottaiyan's call to bring back former members signals the rise of yet another faction in the opposition party

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin took strong exception to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for criticising the DMK-led alliance and advised the former CM to save his faction-ridden party that was disintegrating.

Referring to the latest rift in the opposition AIADMK with its senior leader K A Sengottaiyan on September 5 asking Palaniswami to take into the AIADMK fold all those who left the party, Udhayanidhi said this was a new group that has emerged in the AIADMK.

"When the members of two AIADMK factions meet, they would only enquire who belonged to which faction - EPS (Edappadi K Palaniswami), OPS (O Panneerselvam), TTV (T T V Dhinakaran), Sasikala (ousted interim general secretary), Sellur Raju or the newly emerged Sengottaiyan group," Udhayanidhi sarcastically remarked while addressing party workers here on Friday evening.

Though the AIADMK was disintegrating into many groups, Palaniswami went around claiming that the DMK would swallow its allies. "But he (Palaniswami) should first resolve the crisis in his party rather than criticise the DMK," he said.

Both the AIADMK and the BJP were on the same page, especially in being "self-destructive" and "swallowing each other."  "Palaniswami has no right to talk about our alliance which is based on principles and not formed with the Assembly election in mind," Udhayanidhi, who is DMK youth wing secretary, said.

He warned that if the AIADMK-BJP coalition came to power in Tamil Nadu, it would pave the way for imposing Hindi through the three-language formula, redefine the constituencies, introduce the NEP and give up the state's financial rights.

"Therefore, in the battle to defeat the BJP-AIADMK combine, I urge all of you to stand in the forefront as frontline players in the 2026 assembly elections and ensure we achieve the target of winning 200 seats set by our president and Chief Minister M K Stalin," he said.

Tamil Nadu has 234 assembly segments.

Stalin would definitely recognise the hard work of party cadres and reward them appropriately, he added. So, the next six months were very crucial for the party to strategise its field work and make sure that Stain returned as chief minister for the second term.

"So, be active on the field, meet people and intensify the poll campaign," the DMK leader appealed to the cadres.