The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party entered into a crisis on Tuesday as two party factions disagreed over support for the ruling alliance led by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and made rival claims to the Speaker of Parliament that they are the original party.
The split came a day before Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay faces a vote of confidence on the floor of the House. Both sides claimed to be the real party — a repeat of the crisis that followed the death of former chief minister Jay Jayalalithaa — but it was not clear how many legislators were involved in each faction of the AIADMK.
On Tuesday, TVK MP JC D Prabhakar was unanimously elected president. Soon after the elections, a faction led by senior leader C V Shanmugam elected SP Velumani as AIADMK leader in the legislative assembly and former state minister C Vijayabhaskar as whip. Shanmugam had the support of 21 legislators and the support of TVK.
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Hours later, former AIADMK minister AOS Manian, flanked by senior party leaders, submitted a letter to the Speaker, declaring Palaniswami the party’s president in the legislative council. “All 47 MPs (AIADMK) have signed a letter stating that Palaniswami is the leader of the legislative party,” he told the media after meeting the Speaker. SS Krishnamurthy was appointed as whip.
Manian said 26 legislators are supporting Palaniswami. The true strength of the two factions will become clear on Wednesday during the vote of confidence as Shanmugam said more MLAs would join him. Both factions claimed to be the real AIADMK – a claim that the Speaker, and ultimately the courts, will have to settle.
“We, as the AIADMK and the AIADMK legislative party, extend our full support to the TVK government headed by the Prime Minister,” Shanmugam said.
He accused Palaniswami of wanting to form the government with the support of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, saying that the AIADMK was established to “uproot” the DMK and such a decision was unacceptable to them. “When we heard this, we were shocked. How can this be possible? We told him (Palaniswami) that this goes against the founding principles of our party. It cannot happen,” Shanmugam said.
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Manian denied his claim and said that Palaniswami’s faction was the original party. Manian added that the other faction cannot appoint a legislative party president as only the AIADMK general secretary can convene the legislative party meeting as per party rules.
Unlike in the past, the AIADMK did not issue a press release on the election of the party’s legislative president. Both factions claimed their legislative party leaders in letters to the Speaker.
The crisis within the AIADMK is the latest political drama to roil Tamil Nadu, where Vijay broke five decades of Dravidian duopoly to emerge as the single-largest party in the latest Assembly polls. After days of uncertainty and three trips to Lok Bhavan, Vijay managed to put together a coalition comprising the Congress, the Left, the VCK and the International Muslim Workers’ Union, and was sworn in on Sunday.
This is not the first time a fight has broken out over the AIADMK. The dispute erupted after the death of J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, when rival factions led by O Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala demanded the famous two-leaf symbol, prompting the Election Commission to freeze it. In November 2017, after the merger of the Palaniswami and Paniselvam factions, the EC allocated the two-card symbol, based on the majority support they received in the party’s organizational and legislative wings.
“The petitioner groups (both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam) have shown overwhelming support among the members of the General Council and, therefore, the Commission hereby holds that the petitioner group enjoys majority support among the members of the General Council and, therefore, in the organizational wing of the party,” the EC said in its order.
In June 2022, Panneerselvam was expelled from the party, sparking a new dispute. Panneerselvam’s son, former MPs KC Palaniswami, V Pugazhendi and others approached the EC, challenging the amendments to the AIADMK bye-laws and Palaniswami’s appointment as general secretary in July 2022. The EC resumed the hearings on April 28, 2025, after the Madras High Court set aside the stay order halting the investigation into the party’s internal affairs. The dispute over the second round symbol remained unresolved till the 2026 Assembly elections, where Palaniswami contested as the chief ministerial candidate of the AIADMK under the two-leaf symbol.
“During the vote of confidence in the Assembly, if an MLA votes against the orders issued by the official party whip, abstains from participating in the vote, or remains neutral, it will be considered as defection,” AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP IS Inbadurai said in a post on X.
Moreover, the Supreme Court ruled that “legislative party” and “political party” are different, and the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution recognizes only “political party”.
To avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law, the faction must prove that it represents two-thirds of the elected members, said political analyst T Ramakrishnan.
“If Shanmugam claims SP Velumani is the leader and Palaniswami claims otherwise, the Speaker will have to verify the signatures and lists. Even then it will be a long-term political and legal battle,” he said.
