Manoj Pandian, a sitting MLA who was expelled from the AIADMK in 2022 for supporting O Panneerselvam (OPS) joined the ruling DMK on Tuesday in the presence of party president and chief minister MK Stalin. Pandian resigned as an MLA later in the day as a legislator elected from the Alangulam assembly constituency in Tirunelveli district.
Pandian is also the third leader from the opposition AIADMK to join arch rival DMK ahead of the 2026 assembly elections in the past few months after Anwar Raajah and V Maitreyan, quit the AIADMK blaming the party’s alliance with the BJP and joined the Stalin-led party. “I decided to join the DMK because chief minister MK Stalin is rooted to the Dravidian ideology despite relentless pressure from the BJP,” Pandian said. “It is only the DMK which continues to uphold the principles and ideology of the Dravidian movement.”
Pandian’s entry into the DMK is expected to consolidate the votes of Nadars, the community to which he belongs in Tirunelveli district. Pandian is the son of former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker Paul Hector Pandian and has been long associated with the AIADMK since its inception by MG Ramachandran (MGR).
Pandian alleged that the AIADMK was no longer the giant that it was when it was founded by MGR and succeeded by J Jayalalithaa. “The AIADMK is now dependent on another party (BJP),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Pandian alleged that the AIADMK was no longer the giant that it was when it was founded by MGR and succeeded by J Jayalalithaa. “The AIADMK is now dependent on another party (BJP),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}When OPS rebelled against AIADMK general secretary and opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) in 2022, Pandian was among the few who backed him. A lawyer by profession, Pandian had also backed OPS when he rebelled against VK Sasikala in February 2017, before EPS expelled her too.
The OPS camp joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before the 2024 parliamentary elections. He withdrew from the NDA after the EPS-led AIADMK re-joined the BJP earlier this April. Pandian has slowly withdrawn since and his leaving led to speculation if other OPS supporters too would join the DMK.