CHENNAI: Facing a wave of defections to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Edappadi K Palaniswami chaired a review meeting on Saturday to analyze the party’s electoral setbacks.Palaniswami met with district unit functionaries from Chennai and Kancheepuram to steady the ranks.Senior leaders KP Munusamy, C Ponnaiyan, and B Valarmathi were also in attendance to manage the unfolding internal crisis. The AIADMK had won 47 seats in the assembly poll.However, its consecutive defeats and demotion to the third position in the 17th Assembly triggered a revolt among MLAs and party functionaries. This led to a vertical split, with 25 out of the 47 MLAs rebelling against Palaniswami and voting in favor of chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s TVK government during a no-confidence motion.While four MLAs resigned to join the TVK, the others returned to the AIADMK, accepting Palaniswami’s leadership to avoid action under the anti-defection law.However, simmering tension still prevails as Palaniswami stripped the rebel MLAs of their party positions, including regional powerhouses SP Velumani, P Thangamani, C Vijaybaskar, C Ve Shanmugam, and KP Anbazhagam.
