Senior AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam said on 12 May that the party faction has decided to extend support to chief minister Vijay-led TVK in government in Tamil Nadu. The leader said that the party would now focus on rebuilding and strengthening the organisation after the electoral setback
“We founded this party against the DMK. For 53 years, our politics have been against the DMK,” Shanmugam, the rebel AIADMK leader, said while explaining the AIADMK’s stand after the fractured verdict in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The AIADMK currently has 47 MLAs. Shanmugham’s remarks came amid reports of rift within AIADMK, particularly with party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, or EPS, over support to Vijay’s TVK. EPS, 72, is clearly losing control of the party to rebels led by SP Velumani and Shanmugham.
EPS is said to have support of some MLAs while the rebel camp asserts majority support within the party that contested 167 seats in recently-held assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
A proposal had emerged suggesting that an AIADMK government be formed with the support of the DMK, he said adding that the idea, however, was overwhelmingly rejected within the party.
“If we were to form an alliance with the DMK, the AIADMK would cease to exist. Our cadre and leaders refused to accept such a scenario,” he said.
Shanmugam said that the AIADMK currently stands without any formal alliance and must now focus on rebuilding and strengthening the organisation after the electoral setback.
“In the end, we decided to extend our support to the TVK, which emerged victorious,” he said.
The AIADMK’s backing proved crucial after Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerged as the single largest party but fell short of a majority on its own in its electoral debut, reshaping Tamil Nadu’s political landscape and ending the decades-long dominance of the DMK-AIADMK duopoly.
The rift in AIADMK comes two days after Vijay took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu . Vijay is yet to face a floor test in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. He has to prove numbers on the floor of the house by 13 May. For now Vijay has 120 seats with support of Congress and other smaller parties.
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