Palaniswami heads to Delhi amid AIADMK power struggle

Chennai, Sep 15 The leadership crisis in the AIADMK has entered a decisive phase, with General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) set to travel to Delhi on Tuesday (September 16) for talks with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The move comes in the wake of rising tensions between Palaniswami and senior leader K.A. Sengottaiyan, which have put the party’s unity under severe strain.

While the official reason for the trip is to greet newly elected Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan, AIADMK insiders point out that the visit is loaded with political significance.

The party has been rocked by Sengottaiyan’s defiance and his recent overtures to senior BJP leaders, developments that have sparked speculation over the party’s increasing influence on AIADMK affairs.

Sengottaiyan, once a key organiser in the western districts, was stripped of party posts earlier this month after he issued a 10-day ultimatum to Palaniswami demanding the reinduction of expelled functionaries. Soon after, he announced a trip to Haridwar, claiming it was for “spiritual solace”. Yet, on his way back, he stopped in Delhi, where he met Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Confirming these meetings, Sengottaiyan admitted that AIADMK’s internal matters had figured in the discussions, a revelation that unsettled EPS’s loyalists and revived the DMK’s charge that the AIADMK is increasingly bending to the BJP’s pressure. This sequence of events has put Palaniswami in a delicate position.

On the one hand, he has built his authority within the party since sidelining rival O. Panneerselvam. On the other hand, the BJP, which sealed its electoral alliance with the AIADMK in April, is believed to be nudging him toward reconciliation with disgruntled factions ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

Party sources close to EPS insist that he will resist any move that undermines his supremacy, though they acknowledge that pressure from Delhi cannot be ignored.

Meanwhile, Palaniswami’s campaign in Dharmapuri, originally scheduled for September 17 and 18, has been postponed to September 28 and 29. Sengottaiyan, however, has adopted a guarded stance, saying only that he would “remain” when asked about the possibility of expulsion.

As the spotlight now shifts to Delhi, Palaniswami’s talks with Amit Shah could prove pivotal -- determining not just the course of his leadership, but also the contours of the BJP-AIADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu’s high-stakes political battlefield.

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