AIADMK to Contest Madurantakam and Dharapuram Bypolls, Seeks BJP Support

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced on Tuesday that the party will field candidates in the upcoming bypolls for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies. The announcement came as the Election Commission scheduled the polls for October 6.

Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly chamber, Mr. Palaniswami noted that the AIADMK had won both seats in the previous Assembly election. The vacancies arose after two legislators, who had contested on the AIADMK ticket, resigned. Mr. Palaniswami attributed their departures to "horse trading."

In a separate development, senior AIADMK leaders, including K.P. Munusamy, Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, O.S. Manian, and Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy, visited the BJP's state headquarters in Chennai. They handed over a letter to BJP state unit president Nainar Nagenthran, formally seeking the party's support for the bypolls. Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan was also present during the meeting.

Mr. Palaniswami also raised concerns about the state government, criticising Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's administration for failing to address the AIADMK's questions regarding the Police department in the Assembly. He questioned the necessity of the new Secretariat-Assembly project and the relocation of the Chief Minister's Office to the tenth floor of Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai.

Responding to queries about some AIADMK legislators expressing favourable views of the government, Mr. Palaniswami suggested that the ruling party, lacking a sufficient majority, was attempting to keep certain AIADMK members "in good humour." He also noted that parties which had previously supported the government were now criticising it.