Post LS drubbing, AIADMK cadres for bringing all former leaders back to party fold

Chennai: After a heavy drubbing in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK leadership will have to consider bringing back senior leaders who were expelled from the party, as the cadres are asking for this.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK had won the Theni Lok Sabha seat but in 2024 it drew a blank.

For the party, which had ruled Tamil Nadu continuously for ten years from 2011 to 2021, it is a shocker.

While the AIADMK and BJP were in alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly polls, the two snapped ties, with the AIADMK making the announcement on September 25, 2023.

It may be recalled that in the 2021 Assembly elections, the AIADMK had garnered 33.29 per cent votes, but in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party could get only 20.47 per cent votes.

This is being considered as a major failure on the part of the present leadership of the Edappadi K Palaniswami-led party.

Senior leader of the breakaway faction of the AIADMK and sitting MLA, JCD Prabhakar has openly called for all the leaders of the AIADMK to unite and to work for the ideals of the iconic leader late MG Ramachandran (MGR).

It may be recalled that the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneerselvam who was the party co-ordinator was expelled on July 11, 2022 from the AIADMK.

AIADMK former Interim General Secretary and close aide of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, VK Shashikala and her nephew and former MP, TTV Dhinakaran were also expelled from the party.

The party cadres now want all the senior leaders back into the AIADMK fold to put up a united fight in the 2026 Assembly elections.

R Pandiarajan, a businessman from Coimbatore and an AIADMK worker told IANS, “The time for unity is now. Panneerselvam, Shashikala and Dhinakaran must come back to the party as well as all other leaders who have left or were expelled from the party.

“The drubbing we faced in this election is a clear indicator that without unity AIADMK will not go ahead.

“We want our leadership to make a few compromises and bring back OPS and other leaders and win the 2026 Assembly elections.”

Karthikeyan KL, an AIADMK town leader in Theni told IANS, “We won the Theni Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and we lost it this time. The seat was won by P. Raveendranathan son of O. Panneerselvam.

“After OPS was expelled, the Thevar vote bank that is crucial for a victory in south Tamil Nadu has ditched the AIADMK.

“The expelled leaders must be brought back to the AIADMK to get the party machinery rolling for the 2026 Assembly elections.”