DMK alliance has the strength in the Assembly to win four of the Rajya Sabha seats and the AIADMK one seat by itself, while there is a possibility of the AIADMK seeking the support of BJP and PMK or back a BJP or PMK nominee for the sixth seat.
Chennai: A reminder on the State having to elect six Rajya Sabha members this June evoked a plethora of speculations, including one on the AIADMK reviving ties with the BJP and on several other possibilities waiting to unfold, even as an unprecedented crowd gathered at AIADMK leader K A Sengottiyan’s house portending a possible split in the party on the day the Madras High Court put a question mark on the future of the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol.
The DMK alliance has the strength in the Assembly to win four of the Rajya Sabha seats and the AIADMK one seat by itself, while there is a possibility of the AIADMK seeking the support of BJP and PMK or back a BJP or PMK nominee for the sixth seat. The confirmed seat of the AIADMK will go to the DMDK as per the agreement entered into during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In the case of the DMK, it will have to give one seat to Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiyam, as per an agreement, and nominate its members for the other seats that would fall vacant on July 24 with the expiration of terms for Vaiko of MDMK, P Wilson, M M Abdullah and M Shanmugham, all of whom were elected with DMK support, besides Anbumani Ramadoss of PMK and Chandrasekar of AIADMK.
The possibility of the AIADMK not letting go the second seat to the DMK, if just joining hands with the BJP can achieve it, increased as there is an overall demand within the party itself to revive the alliance that general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami snapped in September 2023.
A top honcho of the party S P Velumani had called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently to extend an invitation for his son’s wedding and Sengottaiyan is said to have accompanied him to New Delhi.
Sengottaiyan was once again in the media limelight on Wednesday – he was earlier the focus of attention after he boycotted a felicitation to Palaniswami given by farmers to thank the AIADMK for the Athikadavu Avinashi irrigation project on February 9 – when several cars lined up before his house at Kullampalayam near Gobichettipalayam, triggering a speculation that he was holding a meeting with his supporters.
Though the people who lined up before his house and the former Minister himself clarified that the local AIADMK functionaries had visited him to invite him for an event and crowds gathering at his house was a regular feature, rumors made the rounds on a rebellion against Palaniswami brewing within the party.
Sengottaiyan, some sources pointed out, is a senior leader associated with the AIADMK since the days of MGR and had reportedly resented the party’s successive debacles in elections, which he had blamed on the snapping of ties with the BJP. He had also reportedly wanted the former leaders like V K Sasikala, O Panneerselvam and TTV Dinakaran to be readmitted, which Palaniswami has been resisting.
Many leaders, including Sengottaiyan, have been advocating a ‘united AIADMK’ to regain the confidence of the people, which is a prerequisite to capture power in the State, and are opposed to the view of Palaniswami to not take back whom he had termed as ‘traitors.’
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court verdict that had put a question mark on the future of the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol, which is believed to be the major reason for the AIADMK garnering votes, is also seen as a development that would lead to Palaniswami softening his stand and allow the emergence of a ‘united AIADMK’ and the revival of the alliance with BJP, which could help prevent a Rajya Sabha seat going to DMK and also get substantial votes in the 2026 Assembly elections.
