Edappadi K. Palaniswami. File
| Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan
As the AIADMK is set to enter its 55th year, party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday (October 16, 2026) appealed to cadres for unity and commitment and to gear up to defeat new political challenges, anti-democratic forces, and an anti-people rule, through democratic means.
“For me, the party and cadres are not two different things. The party is my breath and cadres are my pulse,” Mr. Palaniswami said in a four-page open letter to party cadres. He was discharging duties as the party’s general secretary only with the support of the cadres, he said.
Even though several political rivals and traitors attempted to work against the party over the past five decades, he said that the AIADMK marched ahead with the massive support of its cadres by crushing conspiracies.
The AIADMK alliance securing over 1.35 crore votes collectively, and the AIADMK candidates securing a win in 47 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, despite unusual political circumstances and high influence of glamour-driven politics, only proved the party’s unshakeable public clout, Mr. Palaniswami said.
“Glamour-driven politics [kavarchi arasiyal] is like a bubble and it could burst anytime. But our party, built by principles and sacrifices, is a colossal public movement that can live through the test of times,” said Mr. Palaniswami. He further criticised the ruling TVK of having indulged in ‘horse trading’ and over alleged deterioration of law and order.
“Instead of resolving challenges facing the people, the rulers [TVK-led government] are focusing on how to weaken the AIADMK, how to get its [AIADMK] MLAs through horse-trading,” Mr. Palaniswami charged. Responding to such attempts, he said: “This movement did not come together for power but for principles.”
The AIADMK general secretary further asserted that his party cadres were trained under the leaderships of late leaders and former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa and had seen many political battlefields and would not fall for conspiracies.
Recalling how late leader MGR was expelled by an “evil force” from the DMK founded by C.N. Annadurai and how the AIADMK was founded in 1972 and elected to power for the first time in 1977, Mr. Palaniswami listed out several achievements of the party, which benefited the people of Tamil Nadu over the years.
Published – October 16, 2026 02:54 pm IST
