Chennai, Sep 29 — Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan used a by-election campaign meeting in Dharapuram to attack AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami, saying his expulsion from the party ultimately paved the way for him to join Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s government.
“Fortunately, EPS expelled me from the party. Today I am a minister. I escaped,” Sengottaiyan told supporters, portraying his move to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as a turning point in his political career.
He accused Palaniswami, widely known as EPS, of betraying people within the AIADMK and said the party’s decline was the result of that conduct.
Sengottaiyan credited Vijay with taking him into TVK and appointing him minister after he left the AIADMK.
“EPS did a good job. He removed me from the party, and leader Vijay took me in and made me a minister. This is history,” he said.
Without Vijay’s intervention, Sengottaiyan suggested, he would have been left in a much weaker political position. He framed his experience as evidence that TVK stood by those who trusted it.
Addressing party workers and voters, he said they should not fear attempts to control or suppress them, adding that the party would stand up to anyone who tried to intimidate its supporters.
Sengottaiyan also turned to local concerns, promising that the government would address residents' needs. He said 25 lakh people across Tamil Nadu would receive land ownership documents, or pattas, by next year.
He also spoke of the need for people to access a plot and a house for Rs 5 lakh, though he did not provide details on how the proposal would be implemented.
Calling on voters to deliver a decisive mandate in the Dharapuram by-election, he urged supporters to work towards a victory margin of one lakh votes for TVK.
Such a result, he said, would create history in the constituency.
The minister’s speech combined a personal account of his break with the AIADMK, criticism of its current leadership and campaign promises on pattas and housing.
He appealed to voters to back Vijay’s party in the upcoming by-election.