AIADMK factions vying for leadership position in legislative body

chennai: Artificial Intelligence ADMK The position of leader of the legislative party in the 17th Assembly of Tamil Nadu seems to be heading towards a vertical split.Soon after the newly elected MLAs took oath on Monday, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami A letter was submitted to interim Speaker MV Karuppaiah seeking recognition of him as party leader in the legislature and Thalavai Sundaram as party whip. Later, the factions led by C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani submitted separate representations to the interim Speaker, recognizing Velumani as the leader of the legislative party and C Vijayabaskar as the party whip. Sources in the AIADMK said that in order to cooperate with TVK, the Velumani-Shanmugam camp is trying to get the support of at least 32 MLAs to avoid being disqualified under the anti-defection law. “There are plans to remove Edappadi K Palaniswami as general secretary,” a source said. Secretariat sources said that the EPS faction currently has the support of about 20 of the 47 MLAs of the AIADMK, while the Velumani-Shanmugam camp has the support of most of the remaining MLAs. Although the numbers favor the rebels, officials said EPS may still have an advantage because he is party general secretary. Sources said, “Palaniswami argued before the interim Speaker that as the AIADMK general secretary, he alone is authorized to serve as the leader of the legislative body and the party rules support his claim.”“The rival camps, however, countered that only a formal meeting of the AIADMK MLAs could be held to elect the leader. They submitted signatures of nearly 30 legislators supporting Verumani.” Sources said the interim speaker was unlikely to take an immediate decision considering the conflicting claims and possible legal and political complexities. The Palaniswami faction includes Agri S Krishnamurthy, OS Manian, Thalavai Sundaram and KC Karuppannan. The rival group is supported by Natham R Viswanathan, R Kamaraj, KC Veeramani and Balakrishna Reddy. The latest crisis marks the third major split in the history of the AIADMK. The first was after the death of former chief minister MG Ramachandran in 1987, when the party split into factions led by his widow Janaki Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. The second major break occurred after Jayalalithaa’s death when former chief minister O Panneerselvam launched a rebellion in 2017 and was eventually expelled from the party in 2022.