Unite the party by bringing together all expelled leaders: AIADMK's Sengottaiyan to Palaniswami

Chennai: Pushing for an unified AIADMK by re-inducting the likes of V K Sasikala, veteran AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan on Friday set a 10-day deadline for general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to take steps towards bringing back those who had left the party. If Palaniswami does not heed to his ultimatum, Sengottaiyan said he himself would spearhead the effort along with “like-minded” leaders.

In a carefully scripted press conference in Gobichettipalayam in Erode district, Sengottaiyan didn’t criticise Palaniswami but stressed the need for bringing back Sasikala, her nephew T T V Dhinakaran, and former chief minister O Panneerselvam to the party to make the AIADMK “battle-ready” for the 2026 polls, without naming them.

This is the first time that a voice within the AIADMK – Sengottaiyan is one of the seniormost leaders of the party having been an MLA since 1977 – has pushed for the reentry of the three leaders, all belonging to the dominant Mukulathors spread across central and southern parts of Tamil Nadu. At no point in his interaction, Sengottaiyan spoke even remotely against the High Command but subtly conveyed his message as part of his efforts and addressed Palaniswami as the general secretary of the AIADMK.

Sengottaiyan also suggested that the party was weak in Southern Tamil Nadu, where it is fast losing the support of Mukulathors, and the need to unite the party was an absolute necessity.

He also confirmed that he along with five senior leaders – Natham R Viswanathan, P Thangamani, S P Velumani, C Ve Shanmugam, and K P Anbalagan – met Palaniswami after the 2024 poll debacle and requested him to bring back expelled leaders. “We told him that all our electoral strategies are failing in the field and that efforts should be taken to unify the party. He was not in a mood to accept our point of view,” Sengottaiyan said.

Earlier, Palaniswami had termed as “blatant lie” six leaders meeting him and seeking to reindict expelled leaders. It looked like Sengottaiyan was careful that his statements shouldn’t be construed as a “rebellion” by the High Command, except for his ten-day deadline.

This is the first time that a senior leader within the AIADMK has spoken in public about the need to “unite” the party ahead of the 2026 elections, though such statements were being murmured in private for a long time.

Sengottaiyan also told Palaniswami to learn how to be accommodative in politics by citing the example of J Jayalalithaa inducting leaders who criticized him when the party split in 1987 following the death of its founder M G Ramachandran.

The AIADMK didn’t react officially, while Palaniswami didn’t also broach on this topic during his 30-minute address at a campaign meeting in Theni. However, senior leader Dindigul C Sreenivasan said though Sengottaiyan has expressed his interest in unification, the final call on this will only be taken by Palaniswami.