Hours after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay proved his majority on the floor of the House, the faction of AIADMK MLAs who had extended support to him were removed from their party posts. On May 13, 25 AIADMK MLAs, including SP Velumani, C Ve Shanmugam, and C Vijayabaskar, defied party whip Edappadi K Palaniswami’s directive not to support the TVK government.
Vijay won the floor test with the backing of 144 MLAs, while 22 voted against the motion and five abstained.
The rift within the AIADMK has been deepening over the past few days, with several leaders expressing dissatisfaction over the party’s poor electoral performance and blaming EPS for the setback. The party’s strength in the Assembly has fallen from 66 seats in 2021 to 47 now.
Speaking to the media on May 12, Shanmugam said, “TVK is the only party we are in alliance with.” When asked about EPS, he responded briefly, saying, “He is our general secretary.”
Shanmugam also said many MLAs were unhappy over reports that the AIADMK was considering accepting outside support from the DMK to form the government. Calling such a move contrary to the AIADMK’s “basic principles”, he said the people’s mandate was clearly in favour of the TVK.
Earlier, 30 AIADMK MLAs had submitted a letter to pro-tem Speaker MV Karupiah seeking the appointment of Velumani as the Legislature Party Leader.