Sengottaiyan never speaks against DMK, is part of its B-team, alleges Palaniswami

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami alleged on Saturday (November 1, 2025) that expelled AIADMK leader K.A. Sengottaiyan never spoke against the DMK in the State Assembly or anywhere else.

Mr. Palaniswami, who participated in a meeting with AIADMK party functionaries in Salem, told reporters that for the past six months, Mr. Sengottaiyan’s activities had been along anti-party lines.

During the AIADMK regime, 85% of the work on the Athikadavu-Avinashi scheme — a project that diverts surplus water from the Bhavani River to fill waterbodies across Erode, Tiruppur, and Coimbatore — had been completed, he claimed, but after the DMK came to power, work proceeded at a slow pace and was finally completed after three years.

Invitation row

“Farmers’ associations conducted a felicitation function for me. Farmers from various political parties were involved. But Mr. Sengottaiyan said then that in the invitation for the function, there were no photographs of former Chief Ministers Jayalalithaa and M.G. Ramachandran and, using this as an excuse, he did not participate in the function. This, despite the fact that nearly 30% of the lakes in Gobichettipalayam Assembly constituency benefitted from the scheme,” Mr. Palaniswami said.

He went on to claim that Mr. Sengottaiyan handed over free bicycles to schoolchildren in his constituency at a function in which former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin were present. Even then, Mr. Palaniswami alleged, Mr. Sengottaiyan had “begun the DMK B-team work.”

Pointing out that AIADMK cadre had celebrated Mr. Sengottaiyan’s expulsion in his own constituency, Mr. Palaniswami said that if Mr. Sengottaiyan had worked for the people and party, there would be no celebrations over his expulsion.

Reintegration of expelled leaders

Regarding Mr. Sengottaiyan’s demand to reintegrate expelled AIADMK leaders, including O. Panneerselvam, back into the party, Mr. Palaniswami said that Mr. Panneerselvam was expelled with the consent of 2,500 general council members. But since Mr. Sengottaiyan had now joined hands with expelled AIADMK leaders, the party had decided to expel him as well.

Going back to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s reign, Mr. Palaniswami noted that she too had removed him from the post of minister and district secretary. “After I became the Chief Minister in 2017, Mr. Sengottaiyan was inducted into the Cabinet and appointed as district secretary. He never speaks against the DMK in the Legislative Assembly or at public meetings. Last year, he met Mr. Stalin at the Secretariat for 20 minutes,” Mr. Palaniswami added.

Showing video clips of AMMK general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s interview, in which he said he was speaking with Mr. Sengottaiyan, Mr. Palaniswami said that Mr. Dhinakaran was expelled for anti-party activities by Jayalalithaa and had not stepped foot in Chennai for 10 years when she was alive. After her demise, Ms. Sasikala gave the party post to Mr. Dhinakaran without inducting him into the party. “We worked for the party and followed the orders of Jayalalithaa. Since I was true to the party, I became the party general secretary,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami alleged that “these people” (referring to Mr. Panneerselvam, Mr. Dhinakaran, and Mr. Sengottaiyan) had joined hands to “work for the DMK as its B-team for the 2026 assembly elections.” Mr. Dhinakaran tried to topple the AIADMK government through 18 MLAs, Mr. Palaniswami added.

Regarding Mr. Sengottaiyan’s allegations that the DMK did not take any action in the Kodanad heist-cum-murder case — the 2017 break-in at the estate bungalow of Jayalalithaa, during which a security guard was murdered — Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK took action as per the law.

Regarding Mr. Sengottaiyan’s claims that Mr. Palaniswami was a “temporary” general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami said that he was recognised by the courts, the Election Commission, and the media. .