CHENNAI: MDMK on Saturday announced its exit from the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), accusing DMK of attempting to facilitate an AIADMK-led govt after the 2026 assembly election. MDMK general secretary Vaiko said chief minister and TVK leader C Joseph Vijay had assured support for getting MDMK’s two MLAs re-elected if they resigned and sought a fresh mandate. Both MLAs had contested on DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol. The decision to quit DMK-led alliance was taken at the party’s general council meeting at the MDMK headquarters in Chennai. In a resolution adopted at the meeting, MDMK alleged that DMK had sought to align with “Hindutva forces” and explored the possibility of installing an AIADMK govt despite the party securing only 47 MLAs.“DMK joined hands with Hindutva forces and took steps to form a govt led by AIADMK, which had only 47 MLAs. It was an open secret, and people were shocked to know about it. Because of this, the SPA became meaningless. Under the circumstances, our party functionaries have decided not to continue in the DMK alliance,” the resolution stated.While the resolution said MDMK would take a call on future electoral alliances closer to elections, party general secretary Vaiko later, talking to reporters, made it clear that the party would support TVK in the upcoming byelections as well as the local body elections. Notably, the issue of the resignation of MDMK’s two MLAs did not figure in the general council resolution. MDMK, which joined the DMK alliance in 2017, contested four seats under the Rising Sun symbol in the 2026 assembly election and won two. The party’s gradual drift towards TVK had become evident in recent months, particularly after Vijay met Vaiko at his residence. Both Vaiko and his son Durai Vaiko had repeatedly voiced dissatisfaction over DMK’s treatment of MDMK within the alliance while openly praising TVK govt. At the party’s high-level committee meeting on Friday, several senior leaders had favoured exiting the alliance.Addressing the general council, Vaiko revealed that Vijay had assured him that TVK would ensure victory for both MDMK MLAs if they resigned and sought a fresh mandate. R Senthilselvan (Sirkazhi) and T M Rajendran (Kadayanallur), however, declined to resign. “Vijay said he will ensure their victory by campaigning for them in the by-election but the MLAs refused to resign,” Vaiko said. According to MDMK sources, Senthilselvan had decided to continue as a DMK MLA and is set to officially join the party while Rajendran is set to continue as an MLA but will remain in MDMK.
