Prominent dissident MLAs left out of AIADMK’s bypoll campaign events

Prominent dissident AIADMK MLAs S.P. Velumani, C.Ve. Shanmugam and Natham R. Viswanathan have been left out of the party’s byelection campaign programmes in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies.

Thirteen MLAs, including party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, are on the list of star campaigners. The purpose of providing the list to the election authorities is to ensure that expenses on account of travel by the campaigners are not considered while calculating election expenses of the candidates.

Former Electricity Minister P. Thangamani, a key figure in the dissidents’ camp, has also been excluded, along with his colleagues K.P. Anbalagan, P. Balakrishna Reddy, and K.C. Veeramani. However, R. Kamaraj, who represents Nannilam in the Assembly, and G. Hari, who represents Thiruttani, are back in the good books of the party leadership, though they were in the rebels’ camp at one point.

Mr. Thangamani, breaking ranks with his rebel colleagues, participated in a protest in Salem a month ago. It was held as part of the party’s State-wide demonstrations over issues concerning farmers. The former Minister, who lost in his traditional seat of Kumarapalayam in the Assembly election this year, had even told the agitators that Mr. Palaniswami would soon become the Chief Minister. Mr. Viswanathan, Mr. Velumani, and Mr. Anbalagan skipped the agitation despite being named to lead the protests at different places. However, Mr. Reddy and Mr. Veeramani took part.

The friction in the party began four months ago, after 25 MLAs voted for the TVK-led government during a trust motion in the Assembly. This prompted Mr. Palaniswami to sack 26 district secretaries, many of whom are now with the dissidents’ camp. A few others joined the TVK. In fact, this process of churning in the party had necessitated the byelections, as TVK nominees Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama were originally with the AIADMK. After supporting the TVK government in the Assembly, they joined the ruling party. After removing several dissidents as district secretaries, Mr. Palaniswami offered them alternative positions — deputy general secretary to Mr. Velumani and Mr. Viswanathan, and organisation secretary to others. But most of the dissidents declined the offer.

Among those who made it into 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.