The removal of senior AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan from all his organisational posts has triggered more than just another round of infighting in the party. It has laid bare a larger question confronting the AIADMK and its chief Edappadi K Palaniswami or EPS as to whether the party should continue as the BJP’s senior ally in Tamil Nadu or seize the moment to walk out of the NDA again.
On Friday, Sengottaiyan, 77, a nine-time MLA, openly called for the reinduction of leaders expelled from the AIADMK in recent years, including those aligned with former chief minister O Panneerselvam or OPS and ex-party leader T T V Dhinakaran.
Setting a 10-day deadline, Sengottaiyan warned that “like-minded leaders will unite and do it” if the party leadership did not act. He invoked the precedents of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran and ex-CM Jayalalithaa, who had both reinducted party rebels during their leadership tenures. He also said six senior AIADMK leaders had privately urged EPS to consider unity after the party’s defeat in the 2021 Assembly elections.
On Saturday, EPS struck back. In a statement, he announced Sengottaiyan was being relieved of his posts as organisational secretary and district secretary of Erode Suburban (West). Seven other party functionaries considered close to him were also removed.
The swiftness of his retaliation underscores how sensitive EPS is to any outside pressure on the question of uniting with breakaway party leaders or their factions. This has also led to talks in AIADMK circles that the BJP may have “overplayed” its hand in trying to push the issue.
Since 2021, the BJP and RSS have repeatedly sought to bring the AIADMK into the NDA fold. With Panneerselvam and Dhinakaran no longer in the NDA, and smaller allies like former MLA Krishnaswamy’s Puthiya Tamizhagam and the DMDK drifting away, the BJP has faced setbacks in the state, with even the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) being split between its founder S Ramadoss and his son Anbumani.
The NDA in the state now mainly depends on the BJP and the AIADMK, backed by marginal players such as former Union minister G K Vasan’s Tamil Manila Congress, ex-MP A C Shanmugam’s New Justice Party, SRM Group founder T R Paarivendhar’s Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, and John Pandian’s Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam – parties with little constituency base but some caste influence.
Against this backdrop, Sengottaiyan’s sudden call for the AIADMK’s unity looked to many inside the party like a “scripted mission”. A senior AIADMK leader said some senior Sangh Parivar leaders’ “influence” on Sengottaiyan was significant in the entire episode.
“Without BJP’s support, Sengottaiyan wouldn’t have done it,” the senior AIADMK leader, who is still engaging with him, said. “This was their script.”
But for EPS, yielding to such pressure carries risks. Many cadres who stayed loyal to him through the factional conflicts since Jayalalithaa’s death could break away if their rivals were readmitted into the party, dividing the party all over again. “Why should EPS agree to such demands? Taking them back to the party will make it difficult for EPS to run the party,” the senior AIADMK leader said.
In Erode district’s Gobichettipalayam, Sengottaiyan’s home turf, the MLA retains influence in a handful of constituencies. But in the wider state, he is no threat to EPS’s hold on the party. His “10-day deadline” may have been bold, but insiders say it was also the opening EPS needed: an opportunity to sideline him and draw a sharper line between the AIADMK and the BJP’s plans.
AIADMK insiders hold that several senior leaders have already conveyed to EPS that this was a “golden opportunity” for him to exit the NDA. “Because of the BJP alliance, no communists, no minorities, no allies of the (ruling) DMK will join us. This is the best time to walk out,” said a top AIADMK leader and former minister known for his close proximity to EPS.
In party circles EPS may now appear to be cornered: Sengottaiyan is out, but BJP leaders including Nainar Nagendran, the party’s state chief, have begun voicing support for the AIADMK’s unity. Pressures may be piled on him too, the ex-minister said. “Yet, if he resists, sacks those seen as BJP proxies, and quietly charts a course out of the NDA, he could reposition the AIADMK as the nucleus of a broader non-DMK, non-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu.”
The possibilities are plenty, said another AIADMK leader. “Actor-politician Vijay is drawing crowds and peeling away younger voters. Puthiya Tamizhagam is already aligning with him. Were the AIADMK to join hands with Vijay and other regional outfits, it could force the DMK to recalculate its strategy ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls,” said the party leader, who was also part of the EPS Cabinet.
EPS, an astute politician who has survived multiple challenges since Jayalalithaa’s death, now faces one of his career’s most defining choices.
In public, the AIADMK general secretary has maintained silence, letting Sengottaiyan’s removal speak for itself. But within the AIADMK, the debate has intensified. “This 10-day deadline itself has a huge impact. If EPS listens to the BJP’s lobby, what does it even mean for his career as party chief?” said a senior party functionary. “It was another foolish plan which has failed here. The one who must really worry is the DMK now,” said another AIADMK leader who used to be a known loyalist of ex-Jayalalithaa aide V K Sasikala as well as Dhinakaran.