Chennai, 30 June

A day after resigning as MLA, former Minister MR Vijayabaskar on Tuesday announced quitting AIADMK, making the sixth party legislator to do so.

Vijayabhaskar, who represented the Karur Assembly constituency, is likely to join the ruling TVK soon, sources said.

On his social media platform, the former state transport minister in the J Jayalalithaa Cabinet questioned "How can AIADMK join hands with the DMK, which was identified by Amma (Jayalalithaa) as an evil force."

He was apparently referring to the reported alliance talks between AIADMK and DMK after the 23 April Assembly elections.

"It was only against the decision that you (Palaniswami) proposed that we stood against it, but we never stood against your leadership. We all gave our lives to put you forward as the permanent general secretary of this movement. But by disregarding all our protests and the moral feelings of the workers, the arbitrary decision that you took has put the entire movement in ruin and pain today," he said, adding, "Today, I bid farewell to this movement once again with tears and great sadness".

Though Vijayabhaskar suffered a narrow defeat in the 2021 assembly elections to DMK’s V Senthil Balaji in one of the high-stakes battles in Karur, he successfully staged a political comeback by winning the seat back in the 2026 assembly polls.

He defeated his nearest opponent, VP Mathiyalagan of TVK, by a margin of 1,821 votes.

Earlier, former health minister C Vijayabaskar, a medical doctor by profession, resigned as MLA and quit the party. He is likely to join the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.

Days after the floor test, AIADMK members - Maragatham Kumaravel, P Sathyabama, S Jayakumar and later Esakki Subaya - resigned and joined the TVK.