Secretary of the AIADMK students’ wing Singai G. Ramachandran quit the party on Thursday evening, a few hours after he took part in a party meeting in Chennai. He announced his decision to quit the party on social media. Mr. Ramachandran was not available for a comment.

Former Ministers and party’s deputy general secretaries S.P. Velumani and Natham R. Viswanathan were among the senior AIADMK leaders, who were absent for the meeting chaired by party’s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami in the party’s head office.

An informed source said Mr. Ramachandran, who is an office-bearer in the party’s student wing, took part in the meeting chaired by Mr. Palaniswami on Thursday and he was asked to wind up his speech when he spoke. The source said some functionaries think they were above others.

Mr. Palaniswami chaired meetings with functionaries of the AIADMK’s district units in Coimbatore, Dindigul and Chennai. During the meeting involving four Coimbatore district units, Mr. Ramachandran spoke. A participant of the meeting said: “Mr. Ramachandran wanted to speak and he was allowed. But he kept repeating his contentions. He was requested to allow time for others to speak.”

The participant said that functionaries could express their opinions but only the general secretary could decide on anything for the party. The source also confirmed that Mr. Thangamani was not present for the meeting involving Namakkal district unit functionaries held on Wednesday (July 22).

Party’s senior leaders A. Tamil Magan Hussain, K.P. Munusamy and Dindigul C. Sreenivasan were among the senior leaders who took part in the meetings on Thursday (July 23).

Published - July 24, 2026 12:51 am IST