AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami. File
\| Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

AIADMK leaders on Wednesday (July 22, 2026) met Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar and submitted a letter from the party’s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, furnishing clarifications on his petition seeking action against former AIADMK legislators under the anti-defection law.

AIADMK MLAs Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy, N. Thalavai Sundaram, and Thamarai S. Rajendran met the Speaker at the Secretariat and handed over the letter. Earlier, the Speaker had sought certain clarifications from Mr. Palaniswami after receiving written explanations from former MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel (Madhuranthagam), S. Jayakumar (Perundurai), P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), and Esaki Subaya (Ambasamudram) in response to notices issued to them under the anti-defection law.

Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Krishnamurthy said, “Six former legislators [including C. Vijayabaskar and M.R. Vijayabhaskar] had betrayed both the AIADMK and the people who elected them by resigning their Assembly membership and joining the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).”

Rejecting the claim that the legislators had quit the party on their own, Mr. Sundaram said they must provide valid reasons for their decision. Asked whether the legislators had left the AIADMK due to dissatisfaction with the decisions of the party leadership, Mr. Sundaram said, “If that was the reason, why did they not say so when they were given an opportunity to contest the Assembly election?”

Responding to a question on the purpose of seeking action under the anti-defection law even though the legislators had already resigned their Assembly seats, Mr. Sundaram said the objective was to ensure that action was taken under the law and to put an end to such incidents.

He also said more youngsters were joining the AIADMK and that efforts were continuing to further strengthen the party.

Published - July 22, 2026 04:01 pm IST