O Panneerselvam
The 66-year-old mounted a revolt against V K Sasikala on February 7, triggering a battle of attrition in the AIADMK.
He joined the AIADMK in the late 1970s and was elected to the Assembly in 2001 from Periyakulam. The watershed moment in his political career came when he was made the stand-in chief minister by J Jayalalithaa.
He stood in again for Jayalalithaa in 2014 and was a powerful member of her cabinet. He became the chief minister again in December 5, 2016 after Jaya’s death and earned the support of the masses by his deft handling of jallikattu issue and aftermath of cyclone Vardah
K Pandiarajan
K Pandiarajan, an engineer from a village near Sivakasai, established himself as an entrepreneur, running a human resources firm Ma Foi.
Pandiarajan entered the political world on BJP bandwagon. After a few years, he joined Vijayakant’s DMDK and was elected to the State Assembly from Virudhunagar in 2011.
He was among the eight MLAs functioning as a separate group within the House for about two years. In2016, he and others joined the AIADMK. He was elected from Avadi constituency and won by a close margin. He was given the portfolios of School Education and Youth & Sports Development
S Semmalai
S Semmalai, a lawyer, joined the party in 1977 and was the given the chance to contest from Tharamangalam constituency in Salem where he lost by 21 votes.
This setback cost him a ticket in the following elections were he contested as an independent candidate. Victory in this election helped him regain his lost hold in the party.
Since then, he had contested in four Assembly elections (1984,1996,2001 and 2016) and one Parliamentary Election (2009). Except for 1996, Semmalai emerged successful in other polls by a huge margin. Semmalai, a Vanniyar switched camps following pressure from his electorate
PRG Arun Kumar
PRG Arun Kumar, Coimbatore North MLA, abstained from voting, going against party whip.
Hailing from Periyanaick-enpalayam, Arun Kumar owns few small-scale industries in the western belt of the State.
After joining the party in 1977, he has held several key posts in party
K Manickam
K Manickam, a resident of Surveyor Colony in Madurai, was into construction business prior to his entry into politics in 1990.
After nearly two decades of party work, he was made the Madurai rural district secretary in 2011 and was rewarded with an AIADMK ticket from Sholavandan, a reserved constituency in the 2016 polls
SP Shanmughanathan
An AIADMK loyalist since its inception, he was given the ticket to contest from Srivaikuntam for four consecutive Assembly elections (2001,2006, 2011 and 2016), and lost only in 2006.
He held different portfolios in Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet. He was dropped for reasons unknown. Shanmuganathan shifted his allegiance to Pannerselvam’s camp, following a long-standing internal conflict with S T Chellapandian
SS Saravanan
S S Saravanan, an engineer from Sourashtra community, earned his spurs as a Lakshimpuram ward Councillor in 2011-16.
He was elected from Madurai South constituency.
His complaint against Sasikala in the recent party divide for allegedly kidnapping MLAs proved to be an obstacle for the Palanisami
OK Chinnaraj
O K Chinnaraj, a Class VI dropout from an agrarian background, climbed the ladders in the party from the grassroots level.
His involvement with the party’s labour union right from the time of its inception in 1972 helped him win the district president post of the union in 2000.
The three time MLA from Mettupalayam constituency also holds a senate member post in Bharathiyar University
N Manoranjitham
Uthangarai (reserved) MLA N Manoranjitham, unlike her peers, has neither held party posts nor enjoyed the support of the masses.
Her husband Nagraj, president of the party’s labour wing, helped her contest from Uthangarai despite opposition from within the party.
After the split in party, she threw her weight behind Munusamy, who had opposed Sasikala
A Manoharan
The 38-year-old native of Viswanathaperi village in Tirunelveli district, is a first-time MLA.
He started his political life by joining DMDK, before switching over to AIADMK. He held various party posts, including branch secretary at Viswanathaperi
A Manoharan
The 38-year-old native of Viswanathaperi village in Tirunelveli district, is a first-time MLA.
He started his political life by joining DMDK, before switching over to AIADMK. He held various party posts, including branch secretary at Viswanathaperi
R Nataraj
The former DGP was very close to Jayalalithaa.
The Mylapore MLA was instrumental in devising the strategy to nab forest brigand Veerapan. Ever since the revolt, all eyes were on him.
Though he kept everyone in the guessing, he broke his silence by saying he will vote against Sasikala camp