AIADMK Leaves Dissident MLAs Out of Bypoll Campaign Star List
AIADMK's star campaigner list for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls excludes prominent dissident MLAs, while two former rebels return to favour.
The AIADMK has excluded several prominent dissident legislators from its official campaign programme for the upcoming by-elections in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram assembly constituencies. Among those left out are MLAs S.P. Velumani, C.Ve. Shanmugam and Natham R. Viswanathan.
Former Power Minister Thangamani, a key figure in the dissident camp, also does not figure in the list, nor do his colleagues K.P. Anbalagan, P. Balakrishna Reddy and K.C. Veeramani.
The party's list of star campaigners includes 13 sitting legislators, among them general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The list is submitted to election authorities so that travel expenses of the campaigners are not counted towards the election expenditure of the party's candidates.
Two legislators who were once part of the rebel camp — R. Kamaraj (Nannilam) and G. Hari (Tirutanni) — have been brought back into the party fold and feature among the campaigners.
Among those who made the list are deputy general secretary K.P. Munusamy, treasurer Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, propaganda secretary M. Thambi Durai and Nagapattinam district secretary O.S. Manian.
The internal friction dates back four months, when 25 legislators voted in favour of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led government during a trust motion in the Assembly. In response, Palaniswami removed 26 district secretaries, many of whom are now part of the dissident camp, while some others joined the TVK.
The churn within the Dravidian major is what necessitated the by-elections: the TVK's nominees, Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama, were originally from the AIADMK and joined the ruling party after backing the TVK regime.
After stripping several dissidents of the powerful district secretary posts, Palaniswami offered them alternative roles, including deputy general secretary positions to Velumani and Viswanathan and organisation secretary posts to many others. Most of the dissidents declined the offers and also stayed away from the consultations chaired by Palaniswami to review the party's performance in the Assembly polls.
Thangamani, however, broke ranks with his rebel colleagues and took part in a protest in Salem about a month ago, held as part of the party's statewide demonstrations on issues concerning farmers, including the Cauvery. The former Minister, who lost his traditional Kumarapalayam seat in the April-May Assembly election, told agitators that Palaniswami would soon become Chief Minister again.
In last month's agitation, Viswanathan, Velumani and Anbalagan skipped events despite being named to lead the stir in different places, while Reddy and Veeramani participated.