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K.A. Sengottaiyan, a veteran of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) who was associated with it from its earliest days, was expelled from the party on October 31 for anti-party activities, which sent an unambiguous message to everyone in the party to fall in line with the wishes of party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami. As on November 4, not a single second-line AIADMK office bearer had commented on Sengottaiyan’s expulsion.
After making the announcement, Palaniswami accused the 77-year-old, nine-time MLA of having engaged in “anti-party activities for the past six months”. An uneasy, stunned calm prevails in the party as leaders come to grips with the expulsion of a leader who stayed true to the party founder, M.G. Ramachandran.
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Career in AIADMK
Sengottaiyan was a member of the first Cabinet of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (1991-96). Although she did not accommodate him in the 2001 Cabinet, and cast him aside after just over a year as Minister in the 2011 Cabinet, he did not quit the party. Sengottaiyan had to face a slew of cases after the 1991-96 term, one notably relating to purchases made for the government-owned JJ Transport Corporation. He was acquitted in that case in 2002. Sengottaiyan was also an accused in a “gifts case” where Jayalalithaa received gifts of over Rs.2 crore. A case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but he was discharged from it in 2019.
Unlike other AIADMK leaders such as T.M. Selvaganapathy and S. Muthusamy, who were also Ministers in the 1991-96 Cabinet and had to face cases after the DMK came to power in 1996, Sengottaiyan did not abandon the party that he had worked hard to build. Muthusamy is now a DMK Minister and Selvaganapathy a DMK Lok Sabha MP.
Speaking to mediapersons on November 1, Sengottaiyan said: “I am very pained over my expulsion, I am in tears. I have not slept the whole night. I worked for the Kazhagam [AIADMK] for more than 53 years… I was an office-bearer before EPS [Edappadi Palaniswami] was even admitted into the party. He came only in 1989. He should at least have sent me a notice [seeking my explanation] since I am a party senior and this is what the party’s constitution says. This rule has been flouted. EPS is acting like an autocrat and is expelling anyone he wants to.”
On November 3, Sengottaiyan urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to expedite the inquiry into the pending issue related to the party’s “two leaves” symbol. In a written representation sent via email, he stated that the faction of the AIADMK led by Palaniswami did not represent the original party and also sought more time from the ECI to present evidence establishing the organisation’s true status.
Also Read | Withering leaves: AIADMK’s leadership crisis
Reason behind expulsion
The immediate reason for Sengottaiyan’s expulsion was that he had met with former AIADMK leaders O. Panneerselvam, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, and V.K. Sasikala, who had been expelled earlier, during the “guru pooja” (birth anniversary commemoration) of Muthuramalinga Thevar, an iconic leader, at Pasumpon in south Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district. He was also present at a press conference near the venue later.
On September 5 this year, Sengottaiyan had raised the banner of revolt, insisting that all the leaders of the past, who were outside the party, should be re-inducted to strengthen it ahead of the Assembly election.
When in the AIADMK, Panneerselvam was Chief Minister thrice (2001, 2014, 2016); Sasikala, a Chief Minister-designate once (February 2017), and Dhinakaran, a Chief Minister aspirant.
Speaking to mediapersons at his home in Gobichettipalayam, Sengottaiyan said: “I wanted all the leaders to come together to work for the victory of the AIADMK. It is a fact that I had spoken to them. I am not denying this fact. I did this for the welfare of the party.”
Also Read | Dravidian parties at a crossroads
Other expulsions
Dhinakaran’s party, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, had parted ways with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on September 3 this year, because the party did not want to accept Palaniswami as the coalition’s chief ministerial candidate. In 2024, the party had given unconditional support to the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha election “to ensure Narendra Modi’s return as Prime Minister”.
In July 2025, Panneerselvam left the NDA after he was repeatedly snubbed. Sasikala was expelled from the party in September 2017 itself, but she continues to sign off as “general secretary, AIADMK” in her letterhead to this day. It was on Sasikala’s demand that Sengottaiyan found a place in the Palaniswami Cabinet in 2017.
Former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, K.A. Sengottaiyan, and AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran paying floral tributes to Muthuramalinga Thevar at his memorial in Pasumpon, Ramanathapuram district, on October 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
L. Balachandar
Trading accusations
Palaniswami was unsparing of Sengottaiyan when asked about the expulsion. He accused Sengottaiyan of being the “B team of DMK” and “not questioning the DMK in the Assembly”. Sengottaiyan hit back, saying that the “entire world knew” why Palaniswami went slow on the Kodanad murder case when he was Chief Minister; and that the DMK was now going slow on the case to protect Palaniswami. Citing more instances of what he said was Palaniswami’s cooperation with the DMK, he said that the people of Tamil Nadu were aware who the B team was.
On November 2 and 3, Palaniswami was in consultation with the party’s IT wing at the party headquarters in Chennai. One reason for this was that the party’s IT wing was revamped after the exit of C.T. Nirmal Kumar, who joined actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Palaniswami interacted with the new office-bearers from across the State to convey to them the seriousness with which he took the IT wing. In the entire meeting, there was no mention of Sengottaiyan.
Over decades, Sengottaiyan had deliberately maintained a low profile in the AIADMK. While it is well known that his clout is limited to Gobichettipalayam and does not extend to other constituencies of west Tamil Nadu, the impact of this expulsion will be felt within the party much more acutely because of the relationships he had managed to establish across the rank and file of the AIADMK.
Palaniswami is aware of this. This perhaps explains why there was bursting of crackers and overt celebrations in the AIADMK’s unit in Gobichettipalayam. The message was that even cadre in his town are happy that Sengottaiyan is gone. But that message will not be delivered because Palaniswami had packed Gobichettipalayam with his supporters.
However, the path ahead is not easy for Sengottaiyan either. Just when it seemed that the trio of Dhinakaran, Panneerselvam, and Sasikala would form a formidable pressure group, a long-standing supporter of Panneerselvam named Manoj Pandian left the combine. On November 4, Manoj Pandian, who was elected from Alangulam Assembly constituency in 2021, joined the DMK. More MLAs and office-bearers are expected to switch sides as the no-holds barred fight for the 2026 Assembly election gains momentum.
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