Chennai, Nov 1: Senior AIADMK leader and former minister K.A. Sengottaiyan has announced that he will take legal action against his expulsion from the party, describing it as “unjust, unconstitutional, and dictatorial.”
Speaking to reporters in his hometown on Saturday, Sengottaiyan asserted that AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) lacked the authority to expel him as his leadership had not yet been recognized by the Election Commission of India.
“My removal violates the bylaws framed by our founder M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) in 1975. Only a duly elected General Secretary can take disciplinary action. I was expelled without notice or the opportunity to explain — this is pure autocracy,” he charged.
Sengottaiyan, a veteran who has served the party since MGR’s era, said he would consult legal experts to challenge the decision in court. “Expelling a senior like me without due process is unacceptable,” he added.
He accused Palaniswami of being responsible for the party’s electoral setbacks since 2019. “Under his leadership, the AIADMK has faced defeat after defeat. Instead of introspection, he blames others,” Sengottaiyan said.
Clarifying his recent meeting with expelled leader O. Panneerselvam (OPS) and AMMK chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran at Pasumpon, he said the meeting aimed to promote unity within the AIADMK, not division. “For trying to unite the party, I was expelled,” he remarked.
Rejecting EPS’s claim that he was part of the DMK’s ‘B Team’, Sengottaiyan retorted, “I am not B Team — A1 is him,” referring to Palaniswami’s alleged involvement in the Kodanadu estate case.
He ended with a sharp remark: “If there were a Nobel Prize for betrayal, it should go to Palaniswami.” Sengottaiyan reaffirmed his commitment to MGR and Jayalalithaa’s legacy, saying, “The AIADMK belongs to its cadre, not to one man.”
