Chennai: At least five former AIADMK ministers, 15 former MLAs and hundreds of district functionaries and cadres will join TVK on Thursday. The former ministers include C Vijayabaskar, M R Vijayabhaskar, M S M Anandan and S Valarmathi.Aadhav Arjuna will welcome them at a private hotel in Mamallapuram at 10am. The former ministers may meet chief minister C Joseph Vijay. Former MLAs Ilambai R Tamilselvan, M Ramkumar and S V Thirugnanasambandam, along with Tiruchuli AIADMK candidate MSR Rajavarman, who lost to DMK leader Thangam Thennarasu, are also expected to join the TVK.Vijayabaskar said more than 15,000 cadres and functionaries from Karur and Pudukottai would leave AIADMK and join TVK, citing dissatisfaction with the party leadership. “One can understand how upset the cadres are when they are coming in more than 200 buses and travelling nearly seven hours to join TVK. Pudukottai and Karur district units are joining en masse,” the former health minister told TOI.Vijayabaskar, among the senior functionaries alongside S P Velumani and P Thangamani, had urged AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami in Dec to align with TVK ahead of the assembly election. The group also took up the matter with the BJP national leadership, but Palaniswami did not agree to the proposal. His post-poll alliance decisions prompted Vijayabaskar to lead a rebellion along with former ministers C Ve Shanmugam and Velumani.Former transport minister Vijayabhaskar said AIADMK was being steered in the wrong direction, while TVK offered a positive alternative. “I suffered a lot under EPS’s leadership. I am leaving with much pain,” he told TOI. At least 59 general council members from Pudukottai and 49 from Karur district units are expected to join Vijay’s party. AIADMK sources said more MLAs may switch sides in the coming weeks. Though EPS restored the party positions of rebels after they expressed regret for supporting TVK during the confidence motion, those who lost district secretary posts never got them back.
