Chennai: At least four councillors — two from the AIADMK, one from AMMK, and one Independent — resigned from their respective parties and joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Friday. This development comes just days before the next Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) council meeting.
The AIADMK, which holds 14 seats in the 200-member council, will now have its strength reduced to 12 following the departure of two councillors. Council authorities have stated that they are consulting legal experts to determine whether the defected AIADMK councillors would face disqualification under the anti-defection law.
The defectors include AIADMK councillors R G Rajesh Sekar (ward 21, Manali) and E Settu (ward 24, Madhavaram), AMMK councillor V V Giridharan (ward 148, Valasaravakkam), and Independent councillor Leo N Sundaram (ward 198). Sundaram originally won as an AIADMK councillor and later joined the BJP, but remained an Independent as his switch was not officially recognised by the Council secretariat. He has now moved to TVK. All four joined TVK earlier this week in the presence of party general secretary N Anand.
Earlier in February, an Independent councillor, Rajan Barnabas, had joined TVK. With these new additions, the total number of TVK-supporting councillors in the council now stands at five.
Speaking to TOI, Rajesh Sekar explained his decision to leave the AIADMK, citing disappointment over party leader Edappadi K Palaniswamy holding talks with the DMK to form a government. “We can never ally with DMK,” he said.
Settu stated that the AIADMK had failed to fill organisational posts in recent years and had weakened in Chennai. “We do not see a future in the party to continue public service. That is why we joined TVK,” he said.
Giridharan, AMMK’s sole councillor, expressed unhappiness with his party contesting elections alongside the BJP and pointed to its poor performance. He noted that AMMK lacked an organisational structure in Chennai and claimed that nearly 3,000 local-level AIADMK and AMMK functionaries from Maduravoyal, Valasaravakkam, and Porur had shifted to TVK.
“People are joining because they see political opportunity. TVK has not offered us any posts. We have only received membership cards,” he said.
Currently, the DMK holds 153 seats in the GCC council, while the AIADMK has 13. The TVK alliance will now have 20 members in the council — comprising TVK (5), Congress (13), CPI and CPM (2 each), and VCK (4). Four seats remain vacant. Deputy mayor Mahesh Kumar said the corporation would consult the council secretary regarding the initiation of defection proceedings against the AIADMK councillors.
