‘Freed of Saturn’s affliction’: AIADMK welcomes Panneerselvam’s switch to DMK

AIADMK celebrates Panneerselvam's shift to DMK, while Sasikala decries it as unfortunate and labels DMK an "evil force."

The AIADMK’s organisation secretary and former Law Minister, C.Ve. Shanmugam, said on Friday (February 27, 2026) that the development of the former party coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, joining the DMK was a matter of joy for the Dravidian major. He added that “my party has been freed of the affliction of Saturn,” meaning the end of the party’s bad phase.

“For us, the day marks [Thai] Pongal and Deepavali. We can now focus all our energy and attention on securing victory for the party in the Assembly election,” Mr. Shanmugam said.

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Describing Mr. Panneerselvam’s move as “unfortunate,” former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala, in a post on social media, said it was wrong to view the DMK as “the parent body,” as it was an “evil force” that must be removed from the State’s political scene.

However, Ms. Sasikala, who had recently launched a party of her own, held the present leadership of the AIADMK responsible for the development. She said that “the end is approaching for betrayers who consider themselves the AIADMK and declare themselves leaders of the party, by misleading their associates, evicting all members of the party, remaining in the grip of the DMK, and by going against the policies of Puratchi Thalaivar [M.G. Ramachandran] and Puratchi Thalaivi [Jayalalithaa].” She vowed to defeat these betrayers and adversaries at the hustings.