AIADMK Rift

In yet another setback for the AIADMK, which faces a severe internal crisis, the party's four former ministers and ex-MLAs have joined ruling TVK at its headquarters in Chennai on Saturday. The AIADMK leaders who joined TVK include Udumalai K Radhakrishnan, M C Sampath, Kadambur C Raju and N R Sivapathi. All of them joined the ruling party in front of TVK General Secretary Anand and General Secretary for election campaign management Aadhav Arjuna. After the April 23 poll debacle, the AIADMK is facing a series of setbacks. First, a rebel group of 25 MLAs supported a motion of confidence moved by CM C Joseph Vijay on the floor of the Assembly, violating the party whip to vote against the motion. Four of those rebel MLAs resigned and joined TVK before the rebel group patched up with General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami. Since then, several AIADMK functionaries have quit their party to join TVK. The four former AIADMK ministers quitting the party and joining TVK is the latest instance

AIADMK factions patched up on Wednesday, with rebel MLAs led by former state minister S P Velumani calling on party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami at his residence and expressing their support for the party leader, a party source said. About 13 legislators accompanied Velumani. Former state minister C Ve Shanmugam-who, along with Velumani and other legislators, had demanded that the party support the TVK government-was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting. Shortly after meeting Palaniswami, Velumani-accompanied by former minister Dr C Vijayabaskar, legislators supporting him, and senior leaders including Agri S S Krishnamurthy who support Palaniswami-called on Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar and submitted a letter stating that they would function as one party in the Assembly. Vijayabaskar withdrew his earlier letter requesting the Speaker to recognise him as party whip.

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

The beleaguered O Panneerselvam who initiated a 'Dharma Yudham' in 2017 to reclaim his position in the party appears to go the same path, this time 'war for Dharma, 2.0,' after expulsion

The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisami

Three way split of AIADMK has slowed decision-making, prompting industry to look outside the state