Next Saturday, that is, on October 17, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, founded by M.G.R. and later safeguarded by J. Jayalalithaa, will enter its 55th year.
In this connection, the party’s current general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has ordered public meetings to be held across Tamil Nadu.
However, two days before his announcement was made public, Tamil Nadu Highways Minister Adhav Arjuna, speaking to reporters, said, “From now on, TVK and AIADMK are one and the same. Most of AIADMK’s office-bearers have expressed their desire to join TVK. Only Palaniswami and his son will remain in AIADMK.”
Senior Minister Sengottaiyan says, ''Another 15 MLAs are ready to come from the AIADMK.''
In a situation where the Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies, which the party won just five months ago, have now slipped away, there is a fear among the rank-and-file workers who continue to travel with the party without any expectations that some events that unfolded after the recently concluded 2026 general election may happen again.
Will the victories of Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama unsettle the MLAs who remain in the AIADMK? Will the 55th anniversary launch event be an uplifting one for the party’s true supporters?
We spoke to many people, from administrators to ordinary AIADMK workers.
How can a party that defeated the ruling party and a party that was afraid to face a by-election be the same?
''Right now, TVK members are going around saying, 'Vijay has achieved something even M.G.R. never did.' That is talk born out of excessive arrogance. Because AIADMK was the one that, after being founded, won a majority and formed the government in the first general election it faced. TVK has formed a government with the support of six parties.
There’s another thing TVK members should understand. In by-elections, the reality is that the ruling party wins 99% of the time. But within a short period after AIADMK was founded—before it even faced its first Assembly election—it faced two by-elections and defeated the ruling party in both. AIADMK has that history.
Those were the Dindigul MP constituency and the Coimbatore West Assembly constituency. But in the Erode East by-election that came soon after TVK was started, they didn’t even contest. Those who say TVK and AIADMK are the same should know this history.
So calling it an achievement greater than M.G.R.’s can only be called ignorance.
Anyone can enter politics. But those who come in like that must create a new ideology and structure for the party. Only if you do that will workers come looking for your party. If, instead of doing that, you just pull people in from other parties, then why should there be a new party at all? Let the old parties continue as they are! Doesn’t the promise of change have to mean something?'' says Nanjil P. C. Anbalagan, the state secretary of AIADMK’s arts wing, in anger.
Since the current situation is a bit sensitive, he began speaking on the condition that his name not be mentioned, said the district secretary in charge in the capital..
''The uproar that has arisen now is just like the story of beggars coming together to build a monastery. The party workers and the people who like the AIADMK have accepted Edappadi Palaniswami as the general secretary. Even if these two go there and fail to win, or even if those who still want to go do go, the party will have no problem. Because in both these by-elections, the traditional AIADMK votes have gone to the party itself.
It’s not true that Madurantakam couldn’t be won just because of PMK. Are all Vanniyars voting just because PMK says so? Aren’t there Vanniyars in both DMK and AIADMK? That’s the exaggerated reporting by the media about PMK.
Just as MDMK disappeared, Vijayakanth’s party and PMK will also be gone after the 2026 election. DMK gave Vijayakanth’s party a lease on life. It was AIADMK that extended a helping hand to Ramadoss’s son and raised him to the point where he is now advising AIADMK.
At most, for a month or so, some people will be running around saying, “meeting at your house, meeting at my house.” After that, there will be a resolution to everything.
“Among our cadres, there is 200% confidence that we will overcome the current situation and form the government again,” is his view.
''The party split into the J and Jaa factions after M.G.R.'s death and later reunited. In the 1996 election, Jayalalithaa herself lost, and the party plunged into the depths. The same happened after Jayalalithaa went to prison. But after J.'s death, Edappadi Palaniswami proved wrong those who said, 'That was the end of the rule.' Rescuing the party from the Sasikala family made him a strong leader within the party.
Some of the achievements he made during his tenure as Chief Minister received a great deal of public appreciation. The law enabling government school students to pursue medical education, the restoration of water bodies, and the effective handling of COVID all demonstrated his administrative ability. It was because of all this that the DMK won the 2021 election only by the skin of its teeth.
Even in defeat, AIADMK is a strong opposition party. Not having faced the election as the ruling party, and despite factors like the new Vijay wave, winning 47 seats in the 2026 election is no small matter. Even in the by-election, the Vijay image was put to the test. Looking at the way they govern for the remaining time, people are going to put AIADMK back in power,'' says Krishna from Villivakkam, Chennai.