Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 12 : Clouds of another split appeared to loom over the AIADMK after party MLA CV Shanmugam on Tuesday claimed that General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had proposed becoming Chief Minister with the support of the DMK, while asserting that the majority of legislators rejected the move and that his faction had no intention of splitting the party.
Speaking to reporters, Shanmugam called for the formation of a "new alliance" in Tamil Nadu and said the AIADMK was not part of any existing political bloc in the state.
"Edappadi K Palaniswami had proposed that he would become Chief Minister with the support of the DMK; however, the majority of the legislators did not accept this proposal. Consequently, the AIADMK is not in an alliance with any party, and a new alliance must be formed. Therefore, accepting the verdict of the people, the AIADMK legislative party has decided to extend its support to the TVK government. SP Velumani and G. Hari have been elected as the Leader and Deputy Leader of the legislative party, respectively... We will remain united. S.P. Velumani said, "We have no intention of splitting the AIADMK. We are concerned about the AIADMK," said Shanmugam.
Shanmugam further described the DMK as an "evil force" in Tamil Nadu and maintained that forming a government with its support would have gone against the founding principles of the AIADMK, which, he said, was created to oppose the DMK.
"Some people proposed that we, as the AIADMK legislative party, should form a government with the support of the DMK. This proposal goes against the founding principles of our party because the AIADMK was founded to uproot the DMK, which we consider an evil force in Tamil Nadu...The majority of the legislative party members elected SP Velumani as the Floor Leader of the AIADMK legislative party," said Shanmugam.
Rumours of another split within the AIADMK intensified after several party MLAs reached the residence of CV Shanmugam following the Tamil Nadu election results, in which the party managed to secure only 47 seats.
Speculation also grew over a possible alliance between the AIADMK and TVK, even as several MLAs associated with the Shanmugam faction were moved to a private resort in Puducherry.