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The legislator was among the 25 AIADMK MLAs who had earlier defied the party whip and supported the TVK government during the May 13 trust vote.
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami (PTI)
AIADMK Crisis: The crisis within the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) deepened on Tuesday as another party MLA met Assembly speaker to resign, a day after three legislators quit the party and joined Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay.
Ambasamudram MLA Isakki Subbiah, arrived to meet speaker JCD Prabhakar to submit his resignation from the MLA post. However, the latter refused to accept the resignation letter because it had been typed. Subbiah was advised to submit the resignation letter in his own handwriting.
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: AIADMK MLA from the Ambasamudram constituency, Isakki Subbiah, arrived to meet Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar to submit his resignation from the MLA post.Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar refused to accept the resignation letter because it had been… pic.twitter.com/BE5jF6HD2E
— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2026
The legislator was among the 25 AIADMK MLAs who had earlier defied the party whip and supported the TVK government during the May 13 trust vote, exposing deep cracks within the party.
Earlier on Monday, three MLAs from Shanmugam’s rebel camp quit the party to join the Vijay camp. AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham, D Jayakumar and V Sathyabama resigned from the Assembly and joined the ruling TVK.
With the three resignations, AIADMK’s strength in the Tamil Nadu Assembly has dropped to 44. By-elections to the vacant constituencies are expected within the next six months.
The defections are being seen as a major setback for AIADMK general secretary and former Choef Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami after the party’s disappointing performance in the 2026 Assembly elections.
The AIADMK only managed to secure 47 seats out of Tamil Nadu’s 234, while Vijay’s TVK rocked the political landscape by emerging as the single largest force with 108 seats. However, the party fell 10 seats short of the majority mark, triggering intense post-poll negotiations and alliance-building efforts.
The results weakened EPS’s claim as the undisputed face of the anti-DMK space in Tamil Nadu politics and led to an unprecedented rebellion inside the party, with C Ve Shanmugam accusing the AIADMK supremo of allying with arch-rival DMK to form the government.
At least 25 MLAs broke ranks, ignored the party whip and voted in favour of the TVK government, pushing Vijay’s tally to 144 lawmakers. The rebellion has since triggered disciplinary proceedings within the AIADMK, including action under the anti-defection law.
Several senior leaders have criticised EPS’s “dictatorial” functioning and accused him of taking unilateral decisions on alliances and candidate selection. The rebel faction said that EPS must be removed to restore the party as per the vision of MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.
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