With the AIADMK’s rebel leader and former coordinator O. Panneerselvam firmly denying on Friday (December 5, 2025) that he had planned to launch a party, political circles have been abuzz with speculation about his return to the Dravidian major.
Though the AIADMK’s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has been repeatedly asserting against the re-admission of his former colleague, what has triggered the latest round of political chatter is the recent meeting between Mr. Panneerselvam and Union Minister for Home Affairs and senior BJP leader, Amit Shah, in New Delhi.
On record, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, who now runs the ADMK Workers’ Rights Retrieval Committee, has said that he discussed the overall political situation in the State with Mr. Shah and conveyed that all pro-AIADMK forces, which are now scattered, should come together.
Another reason that has paved the way for talk about Mr. Panneerselvam is the likelihood of the return of another old member of the party and former MLA and MP, K.C. Palanisamy, to the organisation. He had been a bitter critic of the party. Of late, he has turned his criticism towards the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as well.
There is a view within the party that the former lawmaker’s comeback might erase the perception, to a certain extent, that the AIADMK has been losing many of its second-rung and senior leaders either to the DMK or the TVK, as can be seen from the decisions of the AIADMK’s two-time legislator R. Chinnasamy and former MPs, V. Maitreyan and A. Anwhar Raajhaa, who had all crossed over the DMK, and former School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, who opted to join the TVK.
As for Mr. Panneerselvam, a cross-section of leaders in the AIADMK either repeat Mr. Palaniswami’s position or express ignorance about their general secretary contemplating changing his stand. While not oblivious to the dictum in the State politics that “anything is possible,” most of them say that the doors appear to have been shut to their former coordinator.
On Mr. Panneerselvam’s present disinclination to start a party, a veteran legislator says the former coordinator may have developed second thoughts about the idea, as the AIADMK may not extend full cooperation to a new party if his group ends up being accommodated under the BJP’s quota of seats, which was done in the 2001 Assembly polls, when the TMC(M) allotted 14 seats to the Congress.
The question before the AIADMK is how to take Mr. Panneerselvam back, in the event of Mr. Palaniswami becoming receptive to the idea. The possibility of restoring the post of coordinator to the rebel leader seems to be remote as it was over the question of leadership – single or dual – that the differences between the camps of Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam came to the fore in 2022. Besides, having established himself well in the position of general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami would not like to have any power-sharing with his former colleague.
It remains to be seen whether the party’s general council, scheduled to meet on December 10, will provide clarity over the matter.