- AIADMK faced fourth consecutive election defeat last month in Tamil Nadu
- Senior leaders Shanmugam and Velumani sought their party's support for Chief Minister Vijay's TVK coalition
- AIADMK's IT wing accused these leaders of seeking ministerial posts from TVK
Tamil Nadu's AIADMK - in the doldrums after slipping to a fourth consecutive election defeat last month - responded strongly as senior leaders CV Shanmugam and SP Velumani pushed to extend support to the ruling coalition led by superstar actor and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.
In a long and dramatically-worded post on X, the party's IT wing slammed "the alliance of those who couldn't secure victory in their own districts" and accused the rebels of a "barrage of lies!" The party claimed Shanmugam, Velumani and a third rebel leader had 'begged' the TVK for a ministerial post last week as they tried to secure long-term political futures.
"Was it your grand plan to drag out and parade a few rumours from the media about an alliance with DMK? The same media is reporting all three of you went and fell at the feet of the TVK, begging for a ministerial post... Are you accepting that too?"
"That's fine... but why didn't you say '... we're heading to wag our tails at the ruling party?"
"And who are all of you to decide who the party should ally with?" the sharp post said, reminding the wantaway leaders (and others doubting the AIADMK's relevance) they had been re-elected on tickets from the party and with support from its cadre.
RECAP | AIADMK's CV Shanmugam Faction Announces Support To TVK
The AIADMK dominated Tamil politics from 2006 to 2021 - party icon and ex-chief minister J Jayalalitha wrote the script for that success - but fell away after she died in December 2016. The party won the 2016 election thanks to a massive sympathy wave but lost three consecutive polls - the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly election - to the DMK.
Last month's defeat compounded leadership and existential problems facing party boss and ex-chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, or EPS, and the AIADMK, which were underscored by Shanmugam and Velumani.
Shanmugam pointed to those four electoral defeats as motivation, and whispers of what would have been a politically unprecedented alliance - the DMK and AIADMK joining hands to keep Vijay from claiming power.
"We need to revive the party... must discuss its future," he declared.
"We founded this party against the DMK. For 53 years, our politics was against it. Given this, a proposal suggesting an AIADMK government with DMK support was rejected....If we formed such an alliance, AIADMK would not exist," he explained.
Shanmugam also said he had no intention of splitting the AIADMK, which sets up a dramatic battle with its core leadership - specifically EPS, as Palaniswami is called - who had earlier refused the rebel faction's call to ally with Vijay and the TVK.
