Rift widens in AIADMK, rebel netas set to back Vijay during floor test

Rift widens in AIADMK, rebel netas set to back Vijay during floor test 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK HYDERABAD. 11.05.2026

Chennai : Rift in AIADMK appeared to widen Sunday with party seniors C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani holding meeting with MLAs even as general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami convened a separate meeting of district secretaries. 

AIADMK sources said majority of MLAs and district secretaries attended the meeting convened by the rebel group. The meetings, held on the day when TVK president C Joseph Vijay was being sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM, also discussed about supporting his party in the assembly during the floor test. 

AIADMK sources said the rebel group was likely to vote for TVK, claiming the decision was taken in the meeting of MLAs with Shanmugam at his residence in Chennai. “They have decided to vote for TVK in the assembly and to come out of the NDA headed by BJP,” an AIADMK source said. 

In the recently held assembly election, AIADMK got only 47 seats and lost the status of opposition party. This is the first time that AIADMK is not in the opposition for more than five years. Shanmugam and Velumani had proposed the idea of backing TVK soon after the election results came, but EPS refused. Disgruntled, the rebel faction sought the support of MLAs and got backing of more than two-thirds of the MLAs required for immunity from anti-defection law. 

Meanwhile, Shanmugam contacted TVK general secretary N Anand. “But Vijay didn’t oblige. He wanted AIADMK MLAs supporting TVK to resign and face bypolls on TVK’s symbol. 

But the AIADMK MLAs are reluctant to do so as they might face backlash in their constituencies if they resign,” sources said. AIADMK sources said efforts by few party seniors for patching up the two factions had failed.