Tussle within AIADMK? Speculation mounts after Sengottaiyan skips party meet to see Speaker M Appavu

Chennai: Veteran AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan skipping a meeting of party MLAs and instead meeting Speaker M Appavu in private has led to speculation about his next move, amid a cold war between him and party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Sengottaiyan has been upset with the way seniors like him are treated by Palaniswami and had even boycotted an event attended by him in Erode district in February.

Since then, Sengottaiyan, who has been with the AIADMK since its inception in 1972 by the legendary M G Ramachandran, had avoided meeting Palaniswami and other senior leaders of the party.

On Friday, when the Budget for 2025-2026 was tabled in the House, the senior leader was present but didn’t exchange pleasantries with Palaniswami, who is also the Leader of Opposition.

Speculation mounted after he skipped the AIADMK MLAs meeting on Friday evening and met Appavu in his chamber before the House convened for the day.

Sengottaiyan, an influential leader from western Tamil Nadu from where Palaniswami also hails, is known for his soft-spoken and non-rebellious nature.

“You should ask this question to him (Sengottaiyan). Why are you asking me? You shouldn’t ask questions about individuals. Ours is a democratic party and leaders function independently. So many MLAs are not present with me now. Does that mean they are upset?” Palaniswami asked when reporters sought his reaction to Sengottaiyan's actions.

On his part, Sengottaiyan refused to respond to questions on Palaniswami, keeping up the suspense. “I met the Speaker only to speak to him about moving a calling attention motion,” he said.

Sengottaiyan coming out in the open against the leadership was surprising as he is known for his soft-spoken and non-rebellious nature.

This brings to the fore the simmering differences among senior leaders of the AIADMK over the way Palaniswami has been running the party ever since he was named as the general secretary by the General Council in July 2022 following the expulsion of O Panneerselvam. And, the party hasn’t registered a victory in any election held since 2016.

Sengottaiyan, who had worked closely with MGR and credited by Jayalalithaa for his organisational skills especially drafting her election campaign plan, also hails from the influential Gounder community much like Palaniswami.

In fact, Sengottaiyan was also one of the front-runners for the CM’s post when V K Sasikala had to step aside and declare a new AIADMK legislature party leader after her conviction in a corruption case and is a senior to Palaniswami in the party.