Thirteen senior party members, including General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, were submitted to election authorities as "star campaigners" for the two byelection constituencies. The filing is intended to keep travel and other expenses incurred by these campaigners out of the candidates' official election‑expense calculations.
Prominent dissident MLAs S.P. Velumani, C.Ve. Shanmugam and Natham R. Viswanathan were left off the list, as were former Electricity Minister P. Thangamani and his allies K.P. Anbalagan, P. Balakrishna Reddy and K.C. Veeramani. Their exclusion signals the party leadership’s decision to marginalise the rebel faction ahead of the vote.
Two former rebels, R. Kamaraj of Nannilam and G. Hari of Thiruttani, have been reinstated into the party’s good graces and are included among the star campaigners, indicating a selective reconciliation by the leadership.
The intra‑party friction dates back four months, when 25 AIADMK MLAs voted in favour of the TVK‑led government during a trust motion in the Assembly. In response, Palaniswami dismissed 26 district secretaries, many of whom subsequently joined the dissident camp or aligned with TVK.
The current byelections were triggered by the defection of TVK nominees Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama, both former AIADMK members who switched allegiance after supporting the TVK government in the Assembly.
Palaniswami attempted to placate the dissenters by offering alternative posts – deputy general secretary to Velumani and Viswanathan, and organisation secretary to other rebels – but most declined the offers.
Former Minister Thangamani, who broke with his rebel colleagues to join a party‑wide farmers’ protest in Salem a month ago, told demonstrators that Palaniswami would soon become chief minister. Despite being named to lead protests, Thangamani, Velumani and Anbalagan skipped the agitation, while Reddy and Veeramani participated.
The exclusion of dissident figures from the campaign roster highlights the AIADMK’s strategy to present a unified front while sidelining internal challengers, a move that could influence voter perception and the party’s performance in the upcoming polls.