After 50 years with AIADMK, Sengottaiyan joins Vijay’s TVK in first major defection to Tamil star’s party

Vijay released a video message welcoming him. “At just 20 years of age, he believed in MGR and joined his movement. In that young age, he took on the significant responsibility of becoming a legislator. From then on, throughout his journey, he remained in public life as a trusted figure to the two towering leaders of that movement — MGR and Jayalalithaa. After being part of the same movement for 50 years, Sengottaiyan’s political experience and his contributions on the field will be a great strength to our Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. With that belief, I welcome everyone who joins hands with him and works with us in service of the people,” Vijay said.

For TVK, a party built largely on Vijay’s popularity and a young supporter base rather than a political cadre, this marks a turning point. Until now, TVK did not have a single seasoned politician capable of independently securing 20,000–30,000 votes in an Assembly constituency. Sengottaiyan’s home turf of Gobichettipalayam could become TVK’s first winnable constituency besides Vijay’s own expected debut, making the veteran potentially the party’s second “assured seat” in 2026.

Political observers say the move also hardens the previously ambiguous relationship between TVK and AIADMK. While Vijay has consistently criticised DMK and BJP in sharp tones, he had so far avoided directly attacking the AIADMK and regularly invoked its icons — Annadurai, MGR, and Jayalalithaa — with reverence. Sengottaiyan crossing over closes the door on speculation of a TVK–AIADMK alliance, a scenario that had quietly unsettled the DMK, which viewed such a partnership as the only formula capable of meaningfully threatening its dominance in the upcoming polls.

Months of friction

Sengottaiyan’s exit follows months of public friction with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, popularly known as EPS. On September 5, he openly urged EPS to readmit expelled leaders including O Panneerselvam, TTV Dhinakaran and V K Sasikala, warning that failure to reunify the movement would lead to further electoral collapse. The response was swift: he was stripped of organisational posts within hours and later expelled altogether, accused of violating party discipline.

That move came after months in which EPS, convinced Sengottaiyan lacked ground influence beyond Gobi and would fade politically, adopted a strategy of sidelining him rather than confronting him. The veteran’s Delhi outreach, reportedly encouraged by a Union minister and an RSS leader, also fell flat, further weakening his leverage.

In response to his switch, BJP state president Nainar Nagendran said the BJP has not given any promise to anyone. “How can it be right, how can it be appropriate, for someone to say that they stayed in the AIADMK trusting the BJP? Sengottaiyan joining TVK will not create any impact on the AIADMK–BJP alliance. It would not be fair to comment on their internal party problems,” he said.

Former AIADMK leader Pugazhendhi, however, was more pointed. “My best wishes to Sengottaiyan. Sengottaiyan joining TVK will add strength to Vijay and that party. Vijay has been praising MGR and Jayalalithaa. TVK should give Sengottaiyan the respect he deserves. Those who have left the AIADMK are not going to unite again.”

He blamed EPS for creating confusion in the party. “If this continues, the future of the AIADMK itself will become a question,” he said.

For Sengottaiyan, once respected for proximity to MGR and Jayalalithaa but increasingly marginalised under EPS, the move may be both a final act aimed at continued relevance and a symbolic bridge between Dravidian-era organisational politics and Tamil Nadu’s newest political brand built on cinema stardom, digital mobilisation, and first-time voters.

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