CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK leaders Natham R Viswanathan and SP Velumani on Sunday launched a fresh attack on general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, blaming him for the party’s defeats in the 2021 and 2026 Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha election, attributing the losses to his flawed political strategies.
Though the two leaders urged Palaniswami to reinstate over 400 functionaries removed from party posts after the Assembly elections, their fresh allegations against him in the joint statement have instead deepened the ongoing feud within the AIADMK.
Significantly, the statement came a day after Viswanathan and Velumani were tasked with leading the AIADMK’s August 14 protests against the TVK government in Ramanathapuram and Theni, respectively.
Both leaders had already rejected the new post of deputy general secretary offered by Palaniswami and signed as party MLAs. They also reiterated their demand for the return of VK Sasikala and AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran to the AIADMK fold to strengthen the party and help it win the 2031 Assembly election.
Appealing to Palaniswami to follow the principle of "forget and forgive" followed by past leaders MGR and Jayalalithaa, Viswanathan and Velumani requested Palaniswami to accept differing views within the party and restore the positions of those removed after May 13, 2026, but who continued to remain with the AIADMK.
In a detailed representation to Palaniswami, the two leaders charged that 25 of the AIADMK’s 47 MLAs were forced to adopt an anti-DMK position after the 2026 Assembly election because of his "wrong decision" to form a government with the DMK. Both leaders have reiterated this charge despite Palaniswami and other senior leaders denying this allegation repeatedly. Justifying the revolt within the AIADMK, Viswanathan and Velumani said the MLAs had taken the position in accordance with the principles of MGR and Jayalalithaa.
They blamed Palaniswami for throwing away alliance opportunities in all three elections - 2021, 2024 and 2026. “For the 2021 Assembly election, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had personally requested Palaniswami in Chennai to ally with TTV Dhinakaran, with O Panneerselvam agreeing to the proposal, but that it was rejected, costing the party the opportunity to win 42 constituencies. They also accused him of dropping the DMDK, Puthiya Tamilagam and actor Sarath Kumar’s party, who had been part of the AIADMK-led alliance in 2019,” both leaders charged.
On the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Viswnathan and Velumani alleged that the BJP’s central leadership repeatedly sought an alliance and assured the AIADMK that its demands would be met, but Palaniswami acted unilaterally, giving the DMK-Congress alliance an opportunity to win all 40 seats.
Several AIADMK candidates were pushed into third place and suffered losses running into crores of rupees. Besides, the AIADMK lost the opportunity to ally with the PMK because Palaniswami delayed finalising the alliance for a month despite the party agreeing to join.
In the 2026 Assembly election, they said, Palaniswami had repeatedly promised a "grand alliance" but failed to bring the DMDK and Puthiya Tamilagam into the alliance despite their approaching the AIADMK. He had also failed to utilise opportunities for an alliance with the TVK, they alleged.
Viswanathan and Velumani said that senior functionaries, district secretaries and cadres had become distressed by Palaniswami’s unilateral approach, including his talks with the DMK, sidelining of senior leaders and failure to consult party veterans on alliance and campaign strategies. The leaders pointed out that state and district affiliated-wing secretaries were not being invited to district-level consultations on the 2026 election results and the party’s future, while union secretaries and effective functionaries were also being sidelined.