Former senior AIADMK leader and incumbent State Finance Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan said on Sunday (May 17, 2026) that the actions of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami indicated that the party had now weakened. He was speaking to reporters in Coimbatore.

Responding to a question on the ongoing friction in the AIADMK after the Assembly election results, he said Mr. Palaniswami thought only he should be in the party.

Regarding the expansion of the Tamil Nadu government’s Cabinet, he said the Cabinet had been constituted only recently, and portfolios had just been allocated. When Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister she too expanded the Cabinet gradually, he recalled. “Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will decide on expanding the Cabinet and who will be a part of it,” he said. On the financial situation in the State, Mr. Segottaiyan said it should be studied carefully and only then could the questions be answered. The Chief Minister has the capability to handle critical situations, he asserted.

When asked about reports that some women have not received the monthly rights grant of ₹1,000 under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam, the Finance Minister said the new government had assumed office only recently.

AIADMK rebel leader S.P. Velumani, on Friday (May 15, 2026), expressed his faction’s willingness to hold discussions with party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on intra-party issues.

In a post on his social media handle, Mr. Velumani reiterated his group’s position about the need for analysing the reasons for the AIADMK’s defeat in the recent Assembly election. Referring to Mr. Palaniswami’s statement that he was ready to make any sacrifice, Mr. Velumani said that instead of driving out the people of the party, the general secretary should invite his faction for discussion, at least once.

Blaming Mr. Palaniswami for acting “arbitrarily” in stitching an alliance for the Assembly poll without “consulting” others, Mr. Velumani felt that the general secretary should have reached out to all his colleagues, at least after the defeat.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s refusal to commit himself to the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for the State government employees and teachers reflects his realisation that it is unsustainable in the long run.

While interacting with journalists in Salem on the Pongal day (January 15), Mr. Palaniswami was asked whether he would go back to the OPS in the event of his party’s victory in the Assembly election. His reply was that a decision would be taken “depending upon the situation”. He added that his party would make “only those promises that are feasible”. At the same time, he criticised the ruling DMK for not having lived up to its 2021 electoral assurance on the OPS.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a few weeks ago that his government would implement the Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS), a mix of the OPS, the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) of the Union government, and the Andhra Pradesh Guaranteed Pension Scheme (APGPS). The TAPS, envisaging the payment of a monthly pension, has retained the element of contribution, as found in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) or the National Pension System (NPS). About 10 days ago, the Tamil Nadu government issued an order that the new scheme came into force on January 1.

In the last five years or so, there has been a trend among certain States to revert to the OPS. States such as Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have announced their return to the OPS. However, the Reserve Bank of India and several economists have been cautioning the State governments in general against reverting to the old scheme, arguing that the move would result in accumulation of unfunded liabilities in the coming years.

Moreover, as pointed out by the Tamil Nadu government’s White Paper presented in August 2021, the government had resorted to borrowing in the past even for items of non-discretionary spending that included pension payment, one of the significant components of the committed expenditure.

With the increasing life expectancy, the number of pensioners and family pensioners in the State has been stabilising at about seven lakhs for quite some time. The demographic data of the pensioners reveal that between 2017 and 2025, the strength of the pensioners, aged 80 and above, rose by 1.7 times — from 41,489 to 1,13,380. It is no wonder that the year-on-year growth of pension and other retirement benefits has generally been in double digit.