Chennai: Rebel AIADMK leaders S P Velumani and Natham R Vishwanathan upped the ante on Sunday accusing party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami of taking unilateral decisions that cost the party crucial alliance opportunities and contributed to its defeats in successive elections since 2021. The two also accused Palaniswami of violating party bylaws while sacking general council members.Velumani and Viswanathan alleged that the current exodus of AIADMK functionaries was due to the ‘selfish’ attempt of Palaniswami to strike a deal with DMK after the 2026 assembly elections. In a joint letter to Palaniswami, the two rebel leaders demanded that former AIADMK leaders V K Sasikala and T T V Dhinakaran, along with 400 general council and executive committee members who were sacked recently should be reinstated in the party. “You had sacked them in violation of party’s by laws to prevent alternatives views and to enforce your decisions in general council and executive committee,” the letter said.The arbitrary sackings should be stopped immediately, the letter said. “The local body polls likely to come in six months is crucial. Party needs to be strengthened for it,’” the letter said, signalling a toughening of position by rebel leaders. The letter comes days after S P Velumani, accompanied by other rebel leaders C Ve Shanmugam and K P Anbazhagan met state water resources minister N Anand in the secretariat. Though S P Velumani and other rebel leaders, who were removed from their party posts after backing the TVK government in the May 13 confidence vote, were subsequently offered new positions, they refused to accept the appointments.The strongly worded letter said that in 2021, EPS forced out DMDK, Puthiya Tamizhagam and Sarathkumar’s party. “In 2021 Assembly elections, Union home minister Amit Shah met you in Chennai and pushed for an alliance with AMMK general secretary T T V Dhinakaran. Former CM O Panneerselvam agreed to the proposal. But you rejected it, resulting in AIADMK party losing in 42 constituencies,” they said.During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Palaniswami refused to ally with BJP despite the BJP leadership agreeing to accommodate AIADMK’s demands, the letter said. “Your decision helped DMK-Congress alliance win all 40 seats and left several AIADMK candidates in third place,” the former ministers said. Though PMK was ready for an alliance, the deal failed due to delay on the part of Palaniswami, the letter alleged.In 2026 too, AIADMK missed an opportunity to form an alliance with TVK, because of Palaniswami, the letter said. “DMDK and Puthiya Tamilagam too approached AIADMK seeking an alliance, but they were not accommodated. These unilateral decisions cost the party valuable opportunities in the 2026 assembly election,” the duo said.The duo also criticised his decision to hold talks with DMK after the 2026 election, saying 25 of AIADMK’s 47 MLAs were forced to oppose the move and adopt an anti-DMK position in line with the ideology of former chief ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.Noting that many of the sacked functionaries were serving AIADMK since MGR days, Velumani and Viswanathan urged Palaniswami to follow a “forget and forgive” approach and reinstate them, specifically V K Sasikala and Dhinakaran.
