Palaniswami removes Sengottaiyan from AIADMK party posts
AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has removed veteran party member K. A. Sengottaiyan from his key posts as Organisational Secretary and Erode (Rural West) District Secretary.
This action followed Sengottaiyan’s public appeal for unity within the party. He had urged EPS to bring back expelled leaders like O. Panneerselvam (OPS), Sasikala, and TTV Dhinakaran, setting a 10-day deadline for a decision.
Sengottaiyan argued that party unity is crucial for the upcoming 2026 Assembly elections.
He warned that if leaders were not reconciled, some might take independent action. In response, EPS swiftly held a meeting with senior party members in Dindigul, and the decision to strip Sengottaiyan of his responsibilities was announced shortly after.
This move underscores EPS’s unwillingness to tolerate any challenge to his leadership. Sengottaiyan, reflecting on the party’s struggles since the deaths of M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and J. Jayalalithaa, had stressed the need to unite warring factions to regain electoral strength.
He pointed to the party’s setbacks in recent elections, including the 2019 parliamentary polls, the 2021 Assembly elections, and the 2024 local body elections, stating, “The party has survived great storms before. But without unity, it cannot rise again.”