Another blow to AIADMK as fourth MLA Esakki Subaya resigns post in Tamil Nadu

Dealing another blow to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), former Minister and Ambasamudram MLA Esakki Subaya on Tuesday (May 26, 2026) met Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar at the Secretariat and resigned from his MLA post. Later in the evening, he joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).

Mr. Subaya, a three-time legislator and an AIADMK strongman in southern Tamil Nadu, was among the 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs, headed by former Minister S.P. Velumani, who voted in favour of the Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-led government during the vote of confidence in the House on May 13.

After the acceptance of his resignation by the Speaker, on Tuesday evening, Mr. Subaya joined the TVK in the presence of party general secretary and Minister for Rural Development and Water Resources N. Anand at the TVK headquarters in Panaiyur on the outskirts of Chennai.

Esakki Subaya. File | Photo Credit: A. Shaikmohideen

Four seats declared vacant

Mr. Subaya’s resignation comes after three other AIADMK MLAs — Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), S. Jayakumar (Perundurai), and P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram) — of Mr. Velumani’s faction resigned as legislators on Monday (May 25) and later joined the TVK. Following the resignation of the four MLAs, their respective Assembly segments have been declared vacant. Official notifications in this regard have been published in the Tamil Nadu government gazette.

EPS supporters meet Speaker

Meanwhile, AIADMK legislators belonging to the faction led by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday met the Speaker at the Secretariat and submitted a petition requesting him to withdraw the acceptance of the resignations tendered by the three party MLAs.

AIADMK MLAs Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy, Thalavai Sundaram, O.S. Manian, and Rajya Sabha MP I.S. Inbadurai met the Speaker in his chamber and submitted a three-page petition seeking withdrawal of the acceptance of the resignations of Ms. Kumaravel, Ms. Sathyabama, and Mr. Jayakumar.

Palaniswami supporters submitted a petition to the Speaker requesting him to withdraw the acceptance of resignation tendered by three AIADMK legislators | Photo Credit: N. Sai Charan

Later, while speaking to reporters, Mr. Krishnamurthy said the Speaker should not have accepted their resignations as disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution were pending against them.

Mr. Krishnamurthy said a letter had been submitted to the Speaker seeking anti-defection proceedings against the 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs who voted in favour of the TVK government during the trust vote. Fearing disqualification, the three MLAs resigned their Assembly membership, he said.

He also said five AIADMK MLAs – S.M. Sukumar (Arcot), P. Hari Bhaskar (Anthiyur), K. Mohan (Panruti), Dileepan Jaishankar (Sankarankoil), and N.S.N. Nataraj (Kangayam) – who voted in favour of the TVK government during the trust vote had “realised their mistake” and submitted a letter to the general secretary extending their support to him. Another rebel MLA P. Balakrishna Reddy (Hosur) also extended support to Mr. Palaniswami. He met the Assembly Secretary on Tuesday evening and submitted a letter to him in this regard.

To a question on whether the AIADMK would go to court on this issue, Mr. Inbadurai said the party would take a call after the Speaker announces his decision on the petition submitted to him.