Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party has been pushed into a fresh political storm, with MLA CV Shanmugam confirming that the AIADMK now has two distinct camps. He announced that a majority of party legislators had rallied behind the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government and dismissed any possibility of joining hands with the DMK. Addressing reporters, Shanmugam said that AIADMK leaders had unanimously rejected the idea of forming a government with DMK support. He stressed that the organisation was built in resistance to the DMK and asserted that aligning with the ruling party would erode the party’s identity.
"We have decided to extend our support to the TVK, which emerged victorious. We started this party against the DMK. For 53 years, we did politics against the DMK. In such a situation, the proposal that an AIADMK government would be formed with the support of the DMK was one that the majority of members did not accept and instead opposed. If we join an alliance with the DMK, then the AIADMK will be vanished. They didn't accept it. Ultimately, we decided to extend our support to the TVK," he added.
New leadership for Assembly announced
The Shanmugam faction also passed a resolution stating that the AIADMK would contest future elections independently. The group selected former minister SP Velumani as the AIADMK Assembly Leader and appointed C Vijayabaskar as the party Whip. Shanmugam said the communication had already been submitted to the Pro tem Speaker. "So, the majority of AIADMK MLAs in the meeting passed a resolution that the AIADMK will list in the election alone. AIADMK will be without any alliance. We are without an alliance now and should revamp our party in the coming days. Secondly, our former Minister S.P. Velumani will be the AIADMK Assembly Leader. The Whip is C Vijayabaskar. We gave our letter to the Pro tem Speaker yesterday," he added.
Call for internal review after poll setback
Reflecting on the party's recent electoral performance, Shanmugam admitted that the AIADMK had been facing repeated defeats and said leaders had agreed to take collective responsibility. He noted that the party must analyse its losses with transparency and urged General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to convene the General Council at the earliest. "Hereafter, regarding the AIADMK, in the past elections, we have been facing continuous losses. There is no other body to blame any individual. We accept the verdict and collectively accept the loss. We should do research on why we lost, in consultation with all. We have asked General Secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami to convene a meeting of the General Council as soon as possible to discuss why we lost. We hope that he will convene the General Council meeting. When he convenes the meeting, we will discuss issues pertinent to our party. We will meet again at 2:00 pm," he added.
CM Joseph Vijay, newly elected MLAs take oath
Earlier on Monday, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, nine other ministers, former CMs including Edappadi K Palaniswami, ex- deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin and the newly elected MLAs took the oath of office in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Pro-tem Speaker M V Karuppaiah, praising Vijay's leadership and victory, initiated the proceedings on administration of the oath of office for MLAs in the first session of the 17th Assembly. The chief minister was the first to take oath as MLA and ministers N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, KG Arunraj, KA Sengottaiyan, P Venkataramanan, R Nirmalkumar, Rajmohan and TK Prabhu followed suit.
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