Chennai, Oct 12 The internal crisis in AIADMK resurfaced following the party’s recent defeat in byelections with the dissident leaders holding a meeting here on Monday.
A section of MLAs, including former ministers S P Velumani, C Ve Shanmugam, Natham Viswanathan, and P Thangamani, who earlier rebelled against party leadership and voted in favour of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government during the trust vote in the Assembly on May 13, regrouped to review the party’s defeat in the October 9 byelections in Dharapuram and Madurantakam Assembly constituencies.
Though there was no official briefing on the outcome of the meeting, sources said that they discussed the potential steps to function as a separate group in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and explore future political options.
Despite their dissatisfaction with the current party leadership, these dissident members maintain that they are still part of the AIADMK, but advocate the consolidation of various factions and bringing in previously expelled leaders such as TTV Dhinakaran, back into the party fold.
The party has been facing significant internal unrest since the AIADMK lost the April Assembly election and also forfeited its principal opposition party status, losing ground to the DMK.
Both the Dravidian parties were, however, overrun by the fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam under C Joseph Vijay, who succeeded in forming a minority government backed by the DMK’s long-term allies.
Although these leaders – except Shanmugam – had previously signed an apology letter and returned to the party after supporting the government in a trust vote, they claim that their plea to restore their key organisational roles in the AIADMK was sidelined by the leadership.
(PTI News)
