AIADMK ship continues to sink as former TN minister MR Vijayabhaskar quits party

The All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) suffered yet another blow on Monday (June 29) when MR Vijayabhaskar, the MLA from Karur and a former state minister, resigned from the party. He is the sixth legislator from the opposition party to leave, adding to its ongoing crisis of exodus since the results of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections were announced on May 4. He is expected to join the TVK soon.

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Vijayabhaskar or MRV, as he is popularly called, met the Speaker of the Assembly, JCD Prabhakar, at the Secretariat in Chennai and tendered a handwritten resignation letter. It was accepted.

Vijayabhaskar regained Karur in 2026

The MLA defeated his nearest opponent, V R Mathiyalagan from the Tamiliga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur in this year’s elections by less than 2,000 votes. He lost the seat to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 2021, having won it in 2016.

The resignation of Vijayabhaskar, who had served as the transport minister in the governments of the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her successors, including O Panneerselvam and E Palaniswami, has reduced the AIADMK's strength in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to 47 from 41. All the lawmakers who quit the party were among those who voted in favour of the TVK-led government during the floor test held on May 13, defying the AIADMK’s whip.

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Earlier, former state health minister C Vijayabaskar, a medical doctor by profession, resigned as MLA and quit the AIADMK. He is also likely to join the TVK.

Maragatham Kumaravel, P Sathyabama, S Jayakumar, and later Esakki Subaya quit the party, just days after the floor test.

Udhayanidhi blasts TVK

DMK leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Udhayanidi Stalin, took a dig at the TVK over Vijayabhaskar's resignation accusing it of indulging in extreme politics. He brought charges of poaching MLAs and alleged that Chief Minister Jospeh Vijay, despite his gesture that members of the AIADMK would not be accommodated in his government which has several of the DMK's former allies, was trying to induct someone caught in a property case. His indirect target was Vijayabhaskar, who has many corruption charges against him.

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Stalin said washing machine politics was at play in Tamil Nadu and warned that the voters will teach those who are encouraging it a lesson in the upcoming by-elections.

TN now has 7 vacant Assembly seats

Following the latest resignation, the total number of vacant Assembly constituencies in the southern state has risen to seven — six from the AIADMK, and in addition, the Tiruchirappalli East constituency vacated by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay following his win from two seats. He retained Chennai's Perambur constituency.