Chennai: Senior All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader K.A. Sengottaiyan has resigned as MLA. A former senior AIADMK executive and former minister, Sengottaiyan, and party General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami have been at loggerheads for the past few months.
This culminated on October 30th when he attended Thevar Gurupuja with expelled AIADMK leaders O. Panneerselvam and T.T.V. Dhinakaran. Speaking at the time, Sengottaiyan stated that he would work to unite the AIADMK expellees.
Displeased with this, Edappadi Palaniswami ordered his expulsion from the party. While anticipation lingered as to what Sengottaiyan’s future decision would be, news emerged in the past few days that he would join the TVK. When reporters questioned him about this yesterday, Sengottaiyan refused to answer. In this situation, Sengottaiyan went to the Secretariat this morning, met Speaker Appavu, and submitted his resignation.
Who is Sengottaiyan?
In current Tamil Nadu politics, Sengottaiyan holds the record for the most number of MLA seats after DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan. Sengottaiyan, who has contested 10 assembly elections, has won nine times. He first contested and won the Sathyamangalam seat in 1977 on behalf of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He then contested nine times as an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from the Gopichettipalayam constituency in Erode district, winning all but one election in 1996.
He was MGR’s commander-in-chief and, after becoming the leader of the AIADMK, became Jayalalithaa’s trusted star. He worked with Edappadi Palaniswami, who became the AIADMK leader after Jayalalithaa’s death. However, Edappadi Palaniswami ordered Sengottaiyan’s removal from the AIADMK due to his confrontational stance with Edappadi Palaniswami over the past few months. Sengottaiyan resigned from his MLA post. As the TVK and DMK continue to engage with Sengottaiyan, expectations are high as to which party he will join.
