Vijay is people's CM: Shanmugam-led AIADMK faction extends support to TVK

At least 30 AIADMK MLAs led by senior party leader CV Shanmugam on Tuesday extended support to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Tuesday. While announcing support, Shanmugam dismissed reports of a rift within the AIADMK and said he had no intention of splitting the party.

The development comes against the backdrop of reports that the group of MLAs being led by Shanmugam want party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami to resign from his post. Shanmugam also said the AIADMK, a constituent of NDA, was not part of any alliance, including with the BJP. The AIADMK won a total of 47 seats in the recently held Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, making the Shanmugam-led group the majority faction.

The Shanmugam-led AIADMK group's support for TVK also came just a day before a crucial floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during which Chief Minister Vijay will have to prove that he enjoys majority support. The TVK emerged as the single largest party in the elections, winning 108 seats, but fell 10 short of a majority. Vijay formed the government with the help of the Congress, Left, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Addressing a press conference in Chennai, Shanmugam pointed out the electoral setbacks for the party, which won only 47 of 234 Assembly seats, in the April 23 election. In the 2021 election, the party was ousted from power by the DMK-led alliance after a decade, securing only 75 seats. It won only one of 39 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and drew a blank in the 2024 parliamentary election.

“The mandate is specifically for Vijay to become the Chief Minister. That is the foremost and most important thing we have to understand. The people’s mandate is for Vijay to become Chief Minister. So, we respect the people’s mandate. To honour that mandate, we wholeheartedly congratulate Chief Minister Vijay. We, as the AIADMK party and the AIADMK legislative party, extend our full support to the TVK government headed by the Chief Minister,” the Mailam MLA said.

Shanmugam, a former Rajya Sabha MP, said the 30 MLAs were upset with reports of a possible DMK-AIADMK alliance to challenge the TVK-led coalition and said that AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami wanted to become the Chief Minister of the proposed bloc. With the 30 MLAs backed by Shanmugam extending support to the TVK, only 17 who are backing EPS remain.

"Edappadi K Palaniswami had proposed that he would become Chief Minister with the support of the DMK. However, the majority of the legislators did not accept this proposal. Consequently, the AIADMK is not in an alliance with any party. We will remain united. EPS is still our leader. We are not with any alliance (BJP). EPS is our general secretary," he said.

He also announced that AIADMK MLAs SP Velumani and G Hari have been elected as the Leader and Deputy Leader of the legislative party, respectively.

Shanmugam's move is seen as a huge setback for AIADMK, which is struggling to gain relevance since the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016.

Calling the proposed DMK-AIADMK alliance against the principles of the MG Ramachandran-founded party, Shanmugam said the AIADMK had to be saved from getting wiped out in the future.

"Some people proposed that we, as the AIADMK legislative party, should form a government with the support of the DMK. This proposal goes against the founding principles of our party because the AIADMK was founded to uproot the DMK, which we consider an evil force in Tamil Nadu. We have no intention of splitting the AIADMK. We are concerned about the AIADMK," he said.

"Certain proposals are being made that go against the basic principles of our party. Our legislative party members and party cadres are opposed to aligning with the DMK. Therefore, in our legislative party meeting, we took a clear decision that such an alliance is against the interests of the party. If we align with the DMK, the AIADMK will be wiped out in the future. As a legislative party, we passed a resolution against the proposal," he added.

Shanmugam said the AIADMK MLAs had asked EPS to convene a meeting to discuss reasons behind the electoral setbacks.

"In the recently concluded election, we faced defeat. Not only in the recently concluded election, but also in the previous election, we suffered defeat. We asked our General Secretary to convene a general council meeting to discuss the reasons behind these electoral defeats and to take further action in the interest and development of the party," he further said.

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