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About 30 MLAs, led by senior leaders SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam, are believed to be in the rebel camp.
Shanmugam said all the party members opposed Palaniswami’s proposal to form a government with the support of the MK Stalin-led party.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday met AIADMK rebels who have extended support to his government ahead of the floor test in the state assembly.
Vijay arrived at the residence of C V Shanmugam, who is leading the group of AIADMK MLAs who have revolted against party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief has been meeting opposition leaders after he took oath as the chief minister on Sunday.
The Shanmugam faction of AIADMK has accused Palaniswami of seeking an alliance with archrival DMK and questioned his leadership following the party’s debacle in the April 23 assembly polls, where it won only 47 out of the 164 seats it contested.
About 30 MLAs are believed to be in the rebel camp, short of a two-thirds majority through which they can retain their assembly membership in case of a split.
On Monday, nearly 30 AIADMK MLAs from the C. V. Shanmugam camp submitted a petition to the Protem Speaker seeking recognition of S P Velumani as the Legislature Party leader, while 17 MLAs backed former chief minister Palaniswami in a separate letter.
Shanmugam Says AIADMK Wanted To Join Hands With DMK
Earlier in the day, Shanmugam said all the party members opposed Palaniswami’s proposal to form a government with the support of the MK Stalin-led party. He added that any such proposal contradicted the AIADMK’s fundamental principles.
The party needs a “new life now,” and the “Amma (Jayalalithaa) rule” should return, and therefore, he added, they should support TVK.
The AIADMK leadership, however, dismissed the allegations as “rumours” and accused the dissident leaders of “unleashing a bag of lies” after failing to secure victories in their own districts.
In a post on X, the party also alleged that Velumani, Shanmugam and C Vijayabaskar were themselves seeking ministerial berths in the TVK government. It asserted that alliance decisions could not be taken by a handful of MLAs and maintained that party cadre remained firmly behind Palaniswami.
DMK also dismissed Shanmugam’s claims of post-poll alliance talks between the two parties, accusing him of trying to create a “split” within his own party.
Taking strong exception to Shanmugam’s remarks, organising secretary R S Bharati claimed that the AIADMK leader decided to support the Vijay-led TVK government and therefore, made the “baseless charge”.
Bharati told reporters here that DMK president M K Stalin had already stated that the Dravidian major would function as an opposition party.
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