AIADMK functionaries told to exercise caution while commenting on political developments

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday (August 30, 2025) urged district secretaries of his party to exercise caution while commenting on political developments and issues. 

“He did not refer to any leader in particular, but advised us to be careful in our interactions with the media,” a few of the functionaries said after Mr. Palaniswami’s meeting with the district secretaries, which lasted more than an hour at the party headquarters in Chennai. 

The response of the functionaries of the Dravidian major was sought in the wake of reports that Mr. Palaniswami had advised his colleagues not to comment on the former president of the State unit of the BJP, K. Annamalai, who was once critical of the AIADMK leader.

Earlier in the day, during an event to mark the death anniversary of Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) founder G.K. Moopanar, the AIADMK general secretary shared the dais with the BJP leader. At the meeting with the district secretaries, Mr. Palaniswami also urged the office-bearers to expedite booth-level work in the run-up to the Assembly election.

Meanwhile, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran, in a separate message on social media, hailed Moopanar’s contributions to public life. 

Call for unity

In a statement, former interim general secretary of the AIADMK V.K. Sasikala renewed her call for unity among the ranks of the party. She had been “taking all her decisions, considering the interests of the party and the State.” It was for this reason that she stepped aside during the 2021 Assembly poll. “It is saddening that the party has not been able to secure [electoral] success. To remain a mute spectator to this [trend] amounts to betrayal of two leaders [M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa],” Ms. Sasikala said.

EPS reiterates promises

On Friday (August 29), Mr. Palaniswami reiterated the provision of silk sarees and dhotis, along with gold for ‘thali’ (mangalsutra), in the event of his party capturing power in the State. 

In a statement, Mr. Palaniswami repeated his assurances regarding the distribution of sarees to women during Deepavali, the construction of quality cement concrete houses to houseless persons belonging to Scheduled Castes/Tribes, the grant of ₹75,000 each to drivers of autorickshaws who wished to own vehicles, the supply of electricity with grant to weavers of bulrush mats, the enhancement of relief assistance during the ban period on fishing, and the transfer of water from the Mayanur barrage to the Ponnaniyaru dam through pumping. 

The former Chief Minister, giving an account of his ongoing State-wide tour between July 7 and August 25, said he had covered about 6,730 km over 118 Assembly constituencies. He described the DMK government as a “failure model” regime.