T.T.V. Dhinakaran. File
| Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan
The expulsion of senior leader K.A. Sengottaiyan from the AIADMK by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami is nothing but “an act of self-destruction,” cautioned AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Saturday (November 1, 2025).
“The people of the southern districts will ensure the defeat of the AIADMK in the upcoming election because Mr. Sengottaiyan was removed from the party when he came to participate in the Muthuramalinga Thevar jayanthi,” he said while addressing the media at Sholavandan in Madurai on Saturday.
Mr. Sengottaiyan, a senior leader in the party, used to come to Pasumpon every year with the late leader and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. He did not make any political statements when he came to Thevar’s memorial with former Chief Minister O. Pannerselvam on October 30. “He has been removed from the party because of Mr. Palaniswami’s selfishness and hunger for power,” he charged.
Responding to Mr. Palaniswami’s statement that Mr. Dhinakaran, Mr. Panneerselvam, and Mr. Sengottaiyan had been conspiring against the AIADMK, the AMMK leader said that they “need not do anything to defeat Mr. Palaniswami.”
“Mr. Palaniwami’s act of betrayal itself will lead to his fall. If the AIADMK cadres fail to wake up now, the party will surely be defeated in the election – and I, along with Mr. Pannerselvam and Mr. Sengottaiyan, will form the AIADMK again with the same set of by-laws formulated by [AIADMK founder] M.G. Ramachandran,” he said.
Stating that Mr. Palaniswami was acting as though it was part of the DMK’s “B-team” so as to escape criminal cases, Mr. Dhinakaran said that the AIADMK has been “a weakened party” since its loss in the 2021 Assembly election. The party failed to make gains in the 2024 Lok Sabha election due to Mr. Palaniswami’s “political blunder.”
Mr. Dhinakaran said that the AMMK has “a weapon, a democratic force” that would defeat Mr. Palaniswami in the next election. “Wait and watch what weapon we will use against him,” he said.
Published – November 01, 2025 04:17 pm IST
