Sengottaiyan’s ultimatum, issued on 5 September to AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), was widely seen as being made with the BJP’s implicit backing, which his admission now confirms.
Published Nov 07, 2025 | 4:11 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 07, 2025 | 4:11 PM
Sengottiaiyan has raised the banner of revolt, demanding EPS to bring back those who had left the party.
Synopsis: Expelled AIADMK leader KA Sengottaiyan on Friday admitted that his September ultimatum urging Edappadi K Palaniswami to reunite the party had been made at the behest of the BJP, confirming suspicions that the saffron party was attempting to bring together the AIADMK’s warring factions. Sengottaiyan’s remarks, including his assertion that Palaniswami had “betrayed” the BJP by severing ties before the 2024 polls, have reignited debate over the already fragile BJP–AIADMK alliance ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Expelled senior All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader KA Sengottaiyan on Friday, 7 November, admitted that it was at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he issued an ultimatum to the AIADMK leadership, urging it to bring back those who had left the party within ten days.
He said the BJP had first expressed interest in uniting the different AIADMK factions.
Sengottaiyan’s ultimatum, issued on 5 September to AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), was widely seen as being made with the BJP’s implicit backing, which his admission now confirms.
Soon after, EPS removed Sengottaiyan from all party posts. Weeks later, on 31 October, he was expelled from the party altogether.
Subsequently, ahead of the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations, Sengottaiyan visited Pasumpon with expelled former Chief Minister and former AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran, in what was seen as open defiance of EPS.
Together, they announced a “new journey” to take on EPS’s AIADMK in the 2026 Assembly elections.
Since joining hands with OPS and Dhinakaran, Sengottaiyan has repeatedly attacked EPS in public. Addressing reporters at his party office in Gobichettipalayam on Friday, Sengottaiyan levelled several allegations.
“EPS deceived the BJP, the very party that protected the AIADMK government for four years. At a crucial time when Narendra Modi had to emerge as a key leader in 2024, he betrayed them and declared there would be no alliance,” he said, and went on to claim that the BJP had personally approached him.
“The BJP called me and said both factions must come together,” he said.
“I told them, ‘If not you, we have no other way. And without us, you too have no future. You must be willing to place us on the throne of Tamil Nadu. In return, you can get your demands met in 2029 – speak to the top leadership and decide.’”
He added that he had never proposed any plan to split the party for his own benefit.
Notably, soon after Sengottaiyan issued the ultimatum on 5 September, BJP State President Nainar Nagendran had openly supported him.
However, the BJP leadership had repeatedly said it would not interfere in the AIADMK’s internal affairs, while EPS had firmly rejected the entry of VK Sasikala, OPS, and Dhinakaran back into the party.
Sengottaiyan’s latest remarks have revived political debate over whether they could once again strain the BJP–AIADMK alliance.
Sengottaiyan further questioned why no one in the AIADMK was willing to demand a CBI probe into the Kodanadu case, even as the party freely sought CBI inquiries in other matters.
“Who is afraid of the truth being revealed?” he asked, accusing EPS of betraying those who had helped him rise in politics.
Rejecting claims that he was part of a “B-Team,” Sengottaiyan said the real B-Team would be exposed through actions, not accusations.
He noted that EPS had reached the Chief Minister’s chair only because senior leaders like him had supported the move, while OPS had been made Chief Minister three times by J Jayalalithaa.
Sengottaiyan also accused EPS of weakening the AIADMK by sidelining senior cadres through rules such as the one restricting booth-level posts to members under 45 years of age. According to him, this had driven out loyal party workers and damaged internal democracy.
He said EPS had reduced the party to a small circle of family and relatives, and had ignored senior leaders even during Assembly sessions, refusing to discuss internal differences.
He also criticised the expulsion of 14 party functionaries without hearing their explanations, calling it a violation of democratic rights within the party.
Sengottaiyan further stressed that the AIADMK was built on unity under MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa, and warned that those who rise by “climbing on others’ shoulders” would eventually fall.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
